Take-Two Interactive's hunt for the person or people responsible for recent GTA 6 leaks is "rapidly evolving," the publisher says in newly revealed court documents.

Take-Two was quick to file DMCA subpoena requests for Discord and Microsoft in the wake of the initial leaks, but a new filing (via TorrentFreak) is very different in nature. Not only is it much more specific, seeking "targeted information" related to the previous subpoena and individual Discord users, but Take-Two is also requesting that it remain sealed to avoid benefitting the leakers. The previous request, which cast an extremely wide net in terms of the information it sought, remains available to the public.

"Take-Two has identified one additional Discord user and obtained additional identifying information for a previously identified Discord user, as well as additional information concerning the community servers identified in its prior subpoena for which it now seeks more targeted information," reads the new request.

Take-Two says the subpoena attachment "reveals highly sensitive, confidential information about an ongoing investigation into copyright infringement and the misappropriation of Take-Two's confidential information."

"Public disclosure of this information could compromise Take-Two's ongoing investigation and even tip off the alleged infringers as to the nature and progress of Take-Two's investigation and information Take-Two has gathered about the infringement," Take-Two writes. In a footnote, it adds that its investigation "is rapidly evolving and ongoing," and that the new subpoena request "seeks different information" than the first one.

It's worth noting that Discord's marketing director, Ryan Rigney, said as recently as August 25 that the company had yet to be served a subpoena from Take-Two, which may or may not have contributed to the language in the latest request. Either way, the court has yet to make a decision on Take-Two's request for a sealed subpoena and nothing new has been issued so far.

This does seem to suggest Take-Two's investigation is heating up very quickly as the GTA 6 leaks have only been going on for a couple of weeks. It also seems the company is narrowing the scope of its investigation down to specific people potentially involved, which would definitely make me very nervous if I had anything to do with the leaks.

GTA 6 became too realistic for even Rockstar so the devs had to cut a system for restocking Jason and Lucia's fridge to "find the right balance between realism and ease of play"

Rockstar North's co-studio head and head of development, Rob Nelson, has explained how and when players can switch between dual protagonists Jason and Lucia in GTA 6. He says there are some missions where you are forced to use a certain character, some where you are made to switch, and some where you can choose who to play as and change at will.

In an interview with Famitsu that's been translated by GamesRadar+, Nelson describes the team's design philosophy as it pertains to character switching and restriction. "Sometimes [switching characters] is limited by story progression," he explains.

"During the story, there are times where you can't switch from one character for some reason. There are some missions where you are free to switch as much as you want, but there are some sections where we want you to experience it from a certain character's perspective, like GTA 5, so we limit switching."

He goes on to explain how and why the devs limited players to Jason in a certain scene. "There is a mission that takes place in a high-rise apartment complex where you used to be able to switch freely between characters," Nelson says. "However, as ex-special forces, we thought it would be a more natural fit for Jason to be in control, so we decided to set the character. The mission is early in the game, so we thought it would be unnatural for Lucia to lead and give instructions as the two navigate the area."

Alternatively, he compares this to a mission where the player has to switch between Jason and Lucia. "There are some operations where you're forced to switch characters," he says. "In the trailer, we showed a mission where they left a bank robbery and drove away in a car. At first you control Jason firing at the police vehicles from inside the car, while Lucia is driving. Then, during the mission you switch characters, and this time the player is driving the car as Lucia, while Jason and Raul continue to fire at the cops from the back seat."

Finally, he explains parts where you can swap between the two characters whenever you want. "There are missions that are designed in this way, then, like the mission at the end of the trailer where they are under attack, there are times when you can freely alternate switching between Jason and Lucia," Nelson explains.

After 13 years, GTA 6's gameplay deep dive has been so worth the wait even my 76-year-old mother has been texting me about it

Rockstar has just released a massive pile of new GTA 6 screenshots, and even after seeing nearly 30 minutes of 4K gameplay last week, there are a few new details to pick apart in these stills. Sure, there are displays of cars, weapons, locations, and sick outfits for Jason and Lucia, but I keep coming back to this one picture of an iguana.

Seriously, if the image above does not fully communicate why I'm looking at this iguana so intensely, go check out the 4K original on Rockstar's official website. Zoom in, and start counting scales. Every single scale on this little (big) guy is fully visible, in sharp detail, from head to tail.

Of course, Rockstar is already known for ridiculously detailed animals, as Red Dead Redemption 2's horses are famously some of the most lovingly rendered creatures in gaming, right down to testicles that grow and shrink depending on the temperature. But that's a cowboy game – one where horses are central to the experience, as are all kinds of other little varmints you've gotta track, hunt, or avoid.

It wouldn't be out of pocket for us to see an iguana model this detailed if, say, this were a AAA game about keeping iguanas as pets. But this is a game about stealing cars and robbing banks. You'll probably look at one of these iguanas for a couple of seconds, tops. Rockstar might be the only studio in the world willing – and more importantly, able – to invest its resources into such minute details.

Maybe the iguana we're seeing here is a hero model that'll be front-and-center for a brief establishing shot in a cutscene or something. But there's still no reason for it to look this good. Other than, of course, Rockstar's desire to absolutely dazzle us with an uber-detailed sandbox.

GTA 6 became too realistic for even Rockstar so the devs had to cut a system for restocking Jason and Lucia's fridge to "find the right balance between realism and ease of play."

You probably don't need to be told that GTA 6 is big. Rockstar sandboxes are known for their size and depth, and this one seems like it'll be the biggest of the bunch by a wide margin. So much so, the studio doesn't think a single member of the team has seen every corner of Leonida.

Chatting about the blockbuster release with IGN, Rob Nelson, the head of development and co-studio head at Rockstar, spoke about the philosophy underpinning the map and all the various things you can do. "I think the challenge for us on this game is the same as it is on any new game for us," he explains.

"How do we evolve and build upon the good things we have done before in all the ways these things need to evolve," he adds, "but at the same time ensure that the game still has everything that made the previous games in this series resonate with people?"

That's a tricky thing to do. No doubt Rockstar wants GTA 6 to feel fresh and contemporary, without completely eschewing the ideas that have carried the series this far. Chaos, comedy, and constant pull to explore are hallmarks of the franchise, and have been since the very first entry.

That last part is key, and the team appears to have spent the 13 years since GTA 5 well in terms of providing us with things to do. "The game is so big, I don’t know that there’s anybody on the team that knows all of it," Nelson says.

Normally I'd balk at such a statement, but he's likely correct in this instance. Leonida seems big, and between just getting around and all the side-quests, I've little doubt there's an ungodly amount to see and do, to the point that it'll take hundreds to uncover all of it. And it all kicks off in November - at long last.

GTA 6 became too realistic for even Rockstar so the devs had to cut a system for restocking Jason and Lucia's fridge to "find the right balance between realism and ease of play"

GTA 6 had even more daily-life role-playing features, like buying groceries to restock your fridge, reveals Rockstar North co-studio head and head of development Rob Nelson, but the team decided to scrap the idea so as not to overcomplicate the game's mechanics.

In an interview with Famitsu that's been translated by GamesRadar+, Nelson discusses a feature the team planned but eventually cut: dual protagonists Jason and Lucia could buy groceries at the supermarket and then restock their fridge.

"At one point during development, we were experimenting with a system that would allow you to buy groceries to restock the fridge," he says. "We had specifications for stores with groceries that you could buy and take home, and the fridge could be replenished. However, because this would have complicated the mechanics, we had to simplify it."

This would have likely been part of the GTA 6 system that allows you to gain weight, with your body, health, and stamina changing depending on how you eat and exercise. However, it appears the team thought shopping for groceries was a step too far, and opted instead for cleaner gameplay.

"We are always trying to find the right balance between realism and ease of play," Nelson explains. "Rather than just going to the fridge to grab a snack or visiting a restaurant just to roleplay, we want to give meaning to each action."

Seems living our TikTok ASMR restock fantasy is one of the only things we won't be able to do in GTA 6.

GTA 6 wanted system goes up to 6 stars and lets police track your face, your clothes, and your car

People were concerned about the quality of GTA 6's gameplay before the Netflix extended look, given the limited footage previously released. Now that those fears have been quashed, head of development and co-lead of Rockstar North Rob Nelson wants the next biggest concern, another release date delay, to be squashed as well.

In an interview with Famitsu that's been translated by GamesRadar+, the interviewer discusses how they no longer have concerns about the game's quality after watching the GTA 6 extended look that premiered on Netflix. However, the one thing they were still concerned about was whether the game would be released in November.

GTA 6 has seen two release date delays. The first was from 2025 to 2026, and the second GTA 6 delay moved the launch date six months from May 26 to November 19. However, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has remained firm on the November release date, reiterating his confidence in multiple interviews.

Nelson has now added his voice to the choir, certain that GTA 6 will come out in November. "It was our hope that people wouldn't be worried about the quality [after watching the extended look]," he says. "We're really pleased. Also, it will be released on time."

As it's expected to be the biggest game of all time, there is a lot of pressure weighing down on GTA 6 and Rockstar's shoulders. It seems that the studio is firm on its promise that we'll be able to dive into Vice City come November.

GTA 6 doesn't feature microtransactions or AI, Rockstar says, but I doubt its take on GTA Online won't have Shark Cards

GTA 6 hype is reaching a fever pitch after yesterday's big Netflix reveal, and it's seemingly making PS5 Pro consoles pretty hard to come by. In the wake of the GTA 6 extended look, most retailers have seemingly run out of stock of Sony's high-end machine, which has left third-party retailers eagerly selling it at exorbitant markups.

As I write this, you can still get a PS5 Pro console from PlayStation Direct for $899. But that seems to be the only major retailer in the US that currently has the console in stock, and I wouldn't count on the supply lasting much longer.

PS5 Pro is in stock at Amazon, but only at $1,299 from a third-party seller. The situation is the same at Walmart. It's out of stock altogether at Best Buy and Target. There's no way of telling if people are actually buying at these prices, but recent eBay listings tell the story – new consoles have been selling for as much as $1,200 there.

It's possible – likely, even – that Sony will replenish PS5 Pro stock for retailers ahead of GTA 6's actual release, but I guess this is the power of GTA 6. People want the best possible experience for Rockstar's next game, and they're apparently willing to pay a premium for it.

GTA 6 is confirmed to feature PS5 Pro enhancements, but we don't yet know what those improvements will look like. Certainly the game looked plenty impressive on the base PS5 during the extended look, and it's apparently unlikely to hit 60fps even on the Pro.

After 13 years, GTA 6's gameplay deep dive has been so worth the wait even my 76-year-old mother has been texting me about it.

The GTA 6 extended look at long last gave us more insight into the long-awaited new game from Rockstar, and by Leonida was it worth the wait. With around 26 minutes of gameplay to feast our eyes on, there was plenty to soak in. From the sights of the expansive city, to the many activities we'll be able to get up to, and so much more, it certainly painted a picture of what's in store after the likes of GTA 6 trailer 1 and GTA 6 trailer 2.

But after watching the Netflix GTA 6 extended look (which is now up on YouTube) maybe too many times now, I've spotted some smaller details that you might have missed. From little references that call back to places and features we've seen in some of the best GTA games over the years, to things in the background that make the prospect of GTA 6 arriving this November even more exciting, there's a lot packed into this latest look, and I'm here to shout about it.

One of the things I love when it comes to big reveals like this is seeing the community come alive and pick apart the finer details, and as someone who's all about worldbuilding and life-sim-y elements, I've already honed in on things that make me personally excited. Be sure to share any discoveries you've made in the comments section below. But without further ado, join me as I break down the 7 things you might have missed in the GTA 6 extended look.

7. Hello there, Misfire Games

Right at the beginning of the GTA 6 extended look, Jason and Lucia meet with a character called San4San rocking a T-shirt (which also briefly appeared in the first trailer) with a logo that instantly caught my attention. Emblazoned on the front is "Righteous Slaughter: Hood Ops".

Parodying FPS games like Call of Duty, those who played GTA 5 may remember Righteous Slaughter 7, which you could see being played by Michael's son Jimmy at home. So it looks like the fictional in-game universe's developer, Misfire Games, is still going strong in GTA 6. It begs the question: will we see or even be able to play this new entry as Jason or Lucia?

6. Vice City wheels

My first proper introduction to the Grand Theft Auto series was actually GTA: Vice City. But I wasn't interested in the action, guns, and missions. I was there for the cars. I loved cruising around to '80s tunes of Flash FM back then, and there was one set of wheels I enjoyed hopping into the most: the Sentinel.

As GTA's fictional car brands go, it was always my favorite for some reason. So, imagine my delight when I clapped eyes on Jason and Lucia driving in an old convertible Sentinel model, which feels like a true call back to those Vice City (Dance Hall) days.

5. Fridge finds

During the extended look, we see Jason go to his fridge to get a drink. As much as it makes my life-sim-loving heart happy to see smaller activities like this alive and well in GTA 6, I actually honed in on the front of the fridge, which is adorned with a variety of stickers and photos.

One sticker comes from Fleeca Bank, a little nod to a well known bank chain in the GTA universe. I particularly remember it being featured in radio ads when I was playing as Nico Bellic in GTA 4. But it also appears in various entries in the series.

4. Box meals

GTA has always done a lot of parodies, and there's one very prominent one that sticks out in the GTA 6 deep dive. During the extended look we see some TV ads, with one showcasing the Prairie sandwich box meal.

With a frankly wild amount of meat slices piled between bread buns (with top bun fashioned like a cowboy hat), it clocks in at "only 30,000 calories. The ad at once looks like the many stacked sandwiches found at Arby's. So, it certainly looks like it's poking a little fun at the fast food chain.

3. '80s tunes

The extended look is full of music tracks, but to my well-trained Vice City, I loved hearing some of the '80s tracks that throw it back to the feel of Tommy Vercetti's era. As Jason goes up in an elevator, for example, you can hear Phill Collins' Against All Odds playing in the background, which instantly feels like a nod to GTA: Vice City stories.

Not only did Collins actually appear in Vice City Stories, where he performed In the Air Tonight, but it also features another one of his most iconic '80s tracks, Easy Lover, which played on Flash FM.

2. Under the sea

The GTA 6 map already looks very impressive, with sprawling cityscapes made up of various notable locations. With so much of the footage showing off a bustling Leonida and its many NPCs, I couldn't stop noticing the aquatic side of things.

The ocean is absolutely teeming with life, from manatees to dolphins, and stingrays. GTA 5 also boasted a highly detailed ocean, but it looks like GTA 6 is building on this even more. And with lots of scenes showing Jason underwater, or diving off a pier and riding on jetski, it looks like we'll have plenty of occasions to see this underwater world for ourselves.

1. Sweating it

With Leonida being home to a modern take on Vice City, the feel of the place wouldn't be complete without some neon-tinted nightclubs. During the extended look, we see Lucia and Jason go to a few, but what really caught my eye was the fact that Lucia is actually perspiring during one visit.

With GTA 6 promising to dial things up in the immersion and interactivity department in the expansive open world, we're set to see lots of new features that will affect Lucia and Jason in different ways to reflect your choices. And it looks like the interactivity will even extend to things like the temperature of the place you're in having an effect – like going into a busy nightclub, exercising, or sitting in the hot sun and sweating for it.

Join us as we Countdown to GTA 6 with lots of coverage on the next big GTA game.

We may not know much about Rockstar's plans for GTA Online in the wake of GTA 6, but the two worlds are already crossing over. The first character to make the jump from the crime MMO to the latest mainline installment is Valentina, revealed during the GTA 6 extended look showcase.

If you don't immediately recognize her, that might be because she was only a minor GTA Online character introduced to its universe in 2025, as part of the game's Money Fronts DLC.

In GTA Online, you only see Valentina in passing when you go to meet Mr. Faber, while she's telling someone on the phone she's around for just 24 hours.

Valentina seems to have a bigger role in GTA 6 based on the extended look we got, in which she gives Jason and Lucia jobs as bodyguards during a swanky event for Megamundo, a Spanish-language TV network. If she's handing out main missions, it's possible she'll be a recurring character in some capacity – though this is a big game, and you might not run into her often.

Fans have been comparing how Valentina looks in GTA Online versus her upgrade in the new mainline sequel, and it's quite the step up. Her features are considerably more defined, including around the birthmarks on her face. These minor details have long been where Rockstar truly shines as a studio.

I would consider her inclusion in Netflix's extended preview a harbinger of more reveals. Keep an eye on everyone you meet if you're hanging around GTA Online these days, because you might be about to see them get a serious glow-up, too.

GTA 6's criminal profile will track how heinous your crimes are, just like Red Dead Redemption 2's honor system.

Knowing how to steal cars in GTA 6 is going to be a key part of your progress around Leonida, because it's not like you're going to catch the bus across Vice City! While previous entries in the series have relied on vehicles being conveniently unlocked or sticking your fist straight through the glass, the GTA 6 process is going to be considerably more nuanced. With that in mind, here's what we know so far about stealing cars in GTA 6.

Find out what rides you'll be swiping with our round up of the GTA 6 cars identified so far, along with the GTA 6 weapons you can arm yourself with.

How stealing cars works in GTA 6

From what we've seen during the Extended Look, when you approach a vehicle that you can thieve a selection of prompts will pop up, offering different ways to steal the car in GTA 6. In this example, you can either use a slim jim (a thin strip of metal that's technically called a lockout tool) to slide in and pop open the lock non-destructively, or simply smash the window to gain access. Presumably, breaking the window will be quicker but draw more attention and increase the likelihood of getting a wanted level, while popping the lock will take longer but help you remain inconspicuous.

If you opt to use the slim jim then a simple lockpicking minigame appears, where it looks like you need to use the right stick to push towards a curved bar until it fills up completely and the door opens. It's likely that higher end vehicles, if the slim jim option is available, will have a smaller or even moving target bar to fill and make this process more difficult, though from what we've heard so far about character development it's also possible that the more cars you steal in this way, the better you'll get at lockpicking and the easier it will become.

Although this is all we've seen so far, Rockstar says GTA 6 won't let you magically hotwire every car and that you'll acquire certain tools as you progress through the game to access more of them, though you can still carjack any driver you see to take control of their vehicle. There will even be a phone app you can use to get more details on any cars you have your eyes on, telling you what you need to steal it, how much it would be worth to sell, and the cost of registering it as your own vehicle. Certainly some big changes when it comes to grand theft auto!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

One of the scenes featured in last night's GTA 6: An Extended Look premiere might be very familiar to anyone who caught the massive leaks from four years ago.

Cast your mind back to 2022. Very early GTA 6 leaks are flooding the internet. An unnamed couple breaks into a diner called Hank's Waffles, holds up hostages, and steals what they can before the police have them surrounded. Sure, it looks like another Grand Theft Auto romp, only this time with lighting that makes little real-world sense and would-be waffle-munchers who don't react as you'd expect Rockstar NPCs to.

Now it's 2026. GTA 6: An Extended Look reveals near-final gameplay from the open-world epic for the very first time. Lucia and Jason are again robbing a diner, but wait a second... is that Hank's Waffles again? Those poor waffle makers, this time rendered in almost unbelievable detail - the difference four years made to GTA 6 is both incredible and unsurprising.

Re-introducing one of the very first scenes we ever saw from GTA 6, now in almost complete form, is certainly a flex, especially when the game looks this darn good. Whether Rockstar Games did so intentionally (with tongue in cheek) is anyone's guess, but it's certainly a nice reminder to the internet that leaked in-development footage is never a good indication of what a game will actually look like on launch day.

Of course, those first-round leaks are disconnected from the unofficial clips that have been circulating via CyberLeek this past month. Although, the hacker seems to have now cashed out of the memecoin they were using GTA 6 videos to promote, potentially putting a stop to all the leakage once and for all.

Now that we have a real meaty look at Lucia and Jason's adventure, the public's appetite for leaked footage should calm down, either way. We finally have concrete details, after all. GTA 6 will run at 30fps as Rockstar isn't sure if a 60fps mode will be ready in time. We also know the game doesn't include microtransactions or AI-generated materials, and the Leonida map is apparently three times bigger than Red Dead Redemption 2's.

Check out every GTA 6 version for more information and all of the GTA 6 map that's been pieced together thus far.

We haven't gotten official word from Rockstar yet on GTA 6's frame rate, but if you're holding out for a 60fps mode, the prognosis is not looking good. A new tech analysis suggests that it would be uniquely challenging for even high-end PCs to run GTA 6 at 60fps – never mind current-gen consoles.

That's according to Digital Foundry, which has gone over the footage from GTA 6 extended look with its usual fine-tooth comb. They found that the game appears to be running at a native 1440p on base PS5, with a simple upscale to 4K. That's a damned impressive resolution target given GTA 6's visual fidelity, and, given the base console's limitations, it's downright astounding that the game manages to hold 30fps as well as it does.

It's impossible to do a full frame rate analysis given the limitations of Rockstar's upload of the extended look video, DF says, but the outlet has found that the footage indicates "a relatively stable and well-paced 30fps output, with only very occasional single frame drops."

The consistency of that frame rate output indicates that "Rockstar has clearly spent immense effort balancing CPU and GPU workloads to fully saturate the hardware. That makes a 60fps version extremely unlikely on console hardware." PS5 Pro could, in theory, throw more GPU power at the problem, but that's unlikely to improve performance by much when the game is so heavily focused on a densely detailed open world and vast crowd tech – two things that normally require more CPU power.

We know that GTA 6 will feature some enhancements on PS5 Pro, but Rockstar reportedly hasn't settled on whether any sort of performance mode will ever be introduced. High-end PC hardware has, of course, already well outclassed Sony's monster machine, and it sounds like even the theoretical PC port of GTA 6 would struggle to reach 60fps on all but the latest and greatest CPUs.

"The CPU demands of a world this complex – tuned around console Zen 2 cores at 30fps – could make hitting 60fps genuinely challenging in a way we don't often see," Digital Foundry says, "and will likely require a high-end CPU like a recent Ryzen X3D to avoid bottlenecks."

A stable 30fps would still be the best performance we've seen out of a mainline GTA game in decades, as GTA 4 and 5 both had consistent, severe frame rate dips when they originally launched on Xbox 360 and PS3. Standards have admittedly changed over the past decade, but I doubt a 30fps cap is going to dissuade too many GTA fans from picking up the long-awaited blockbuster.

GTA 6 is "Rockstar's magnum opus" according to "proud" devs excited about the Netflix extended look after two weeks of "heartbreaking" leaks.

Everything revealed from the GTA 6 extended look has stoked a mix of largely positive reactions online. To the group of unimpressed onlookers, we can safely add Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 director and Warhorse Studios honcho Daniel Vávra.

Discussing GTA 6 on Twitter, Vávra lays out what he and "everyone who has ever written a good story" sees as the ingredients for, you guessed it, "a good story." The list goes: "Internal and external conflict, complex characters with interesting motives, a consistent, logically functioning world, a theme, a point, a 'message' (in the good sense of the word), logic, and interesting and likable characters."

The GTA 6 reveal, Vávra reasons, did not convince him of these. He describes the showcase as "an absolutely fantastic tech demo bordering on a technological miracle" and demonstrating "an open world so open that no one has ever created anything like it."

But at its heart, in protagonists Jason and Lucia, he sees "two uninteresting sociopaths chaotically committing mass murders of innocent people for other sociopaths and money."

As a result, Vávra reckons GTA 6 has "zero story hook for me. It will surely work for multiplayer and people wanting to do crazy random shit. But there was much more before."

In a reply to one user who suggested GTA 5's cast was "pretty complex and interesting" and Rockstar surely kept the truth of Jason and Lucia close to its chest, Vávra adds, "It's weird that you don't show any story hooks in a 26-minute-long 'trailer'. Just random stuff without any context. Plenty of room for some hook." (I, too, cocked my head and squinted at the "more" we purportedly had "before," as I don't know GTA as a famously sociopath-free series.)

You are, as ever, allowed not to like or be interested in GTA 6. I don't like Rockstar's games in general, so obviously I'm not into it. But even to me, Vávra's critique feels a bit premature, though not entirely unfair. A lot of trailers – most, arguably – are a bunch of bits strung together without context. My read of the narrative thread in the GTA 6 extended look was Rockstar showing us pages 82, 147, and 286 of a 600-page book, then filling in the gaps with shootouts and cars. I would at least want to read the first 81 pages before getting too granular.

It's also unclear what distinguishes a "good" message here. My mind goes to a previous claim from Vávra: when it was nominated in the LGBT Gayming Awards, he argued KCD2's optional gay romance is "exactly how something like this should be done," and certainly not like all those games "rightfully called 'woke' these days."

Proving Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's authenticity, Warhorse's biggest fan hikes through Czechia "by foot" to make 3D maps of the RPG's historical locations.

The GTA 6 soundtrack is already finding its way into fans Spotify playlists, with a lot of great songs dropping throughout the GTA 6 extended look. From classic '80s tunes that channel the Vice City vibes of Leonida, to more recent tracks from Miami artists, I've already been listening to so many of them on repeat since the gameplay deep dive dropped. So, if you find yourself trying to find a particular song that was featured in the latest look at GTA 6, then I'm here to help.

Below, you'll find the full GTA 6 songs list so far, with all of the tunes featured in the Extended Look's soundtrack in the order they appear, so you can put together the full playlist if you want to. Plus, if you're after a particular song that was featured, I've also included the timestamps from the video to help you find the track you're looking for. And further down, you can find the songs that were previously featured in GTA 6 trailer 1 and GTA 6 trailer 2, so you can have a complete GTA 6 song list to date.

If you're hungry for more, then here are all of the GTA 6 side activities we've identified, and what we know about how to steal cars in GTA 6.

GTA 6 Extended Look songs

• Pop Bottles - Birdman ft. Lil Wayne (0:08)
• Pound Town (and Tay Keith) - Sexyy Red (0:50)
• Skrilla - Kodak Black (1:46)
• Let Your Love Flow - The Bellamy Brothers (6:00)
• Love Bites - Def Leppard (6:43)
• People Are People - Depeche Mode (8:21)
• But I Think It's A Dream - Captain & Tennille (9:50)
• Cars and Girls - Prefab Sprout (10:42)
• Off the Grid - !!! (Chk Chk Chk) ft. Meah Pace (12:25)
• GTA 6 Theme Song - DRÆVEN (13:41)
• Devil Woman - Cliff Richard (16:49)
• Se Me Nota (Agarrame) - Chimbala x Omega (20:10)
• Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) - Phil Collins (21:37)
• Mine O' Mine - Aluna & Jayda G (22:03)
• Elderbrook - Inner Light with Bob Moses (25:44)

GTA 6 trailer 1 and 2 songs

It's hard to believe how long ago trailer 1 dropped now, but the song that accompanied our very first look at GTA 6 is still memorable. Then, of course, trailer 2 landed to bring us a proper introduction to the leading characters Lucia and Jason, with another unforgettable tune. You can find both songs below:

• Love is a Long Road - Tom Petty (Trailer 1)
• Hot Together - The Pointer Sisters (Trailer 2)

For more, we've put together a list of the GTA 6 cars and GTA 6 weapons identified so far, along with the GTA 6 locations that make up Leonida.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

I cannot imagine what it feels like to know that GTA 6 is actually about to drop for the developers making it. It's 13 years of work and anticipation, finally coming to fruition, and on the back of the Netflix preview, a number of Rockstar devs have expressed their emotions.

"What a day - everything looks incredible. Massive well done to everyone involved," Joe David, a senior mission designer at Rockstar, said on Twitter. His sentiment is widely shared across his colleagues.

"So proud to have been part of this journey! I'm so glad y'all got a preview of what you're gonna play!" Anoop Ravi Thomas, associate principal graphics programmer at Rockstar, posted. "So excited for people to finally see what we’ve been working on," Jacob Lloyd, a senior QA tester at the studio, says.

The feature on Netflix is an event for them as much as for anyone else, since they finally get to see public reactions and feel their audience's energy. And, I mean, knowing your game is already making history through doing a landmark pre-release must be amazing.

Imagine telling your family and friends, hey, the thing I worked on is being previewed on Netflix right now. I'm sure they all understand it's going to be the biggest game of the year anyway, but to have the world's largest streaming platform involved? It's a whole other level.

"It's a privilege to get to work with such immensely talented and great people on this game," Dan Willey, another of Rockstar's senior QA testers, posted on Twitter. "Beyond excited and proud of this extended look and especially proud of the motion capture and animation teams," Rhys Bassett, a motion capture animator at the studio, writes.

It's truly endearing to see everyone rally together on the back of Netflix's big reveal. These devs have earned their moment in the limelight, and it was nearly scuppered by the amount of leaks we've seen over the last couple of weeks. Well over a dozen clips made their way online, prompting legal action from Rockstar.

The Netflix special seems to have completely pushed those into irrelevance. I hope they all soak it in appropriately. After all, "this is Rockstar's magnum opus," as Bradley Stone, lead game tools programmer, says.

Rockstar is cautious about what to satirize in GTA 6: "Specific political issues or memes will date fast"

There are already plenty of confirmed GTA 6 side activities to look forward to, despite launch still being a few months away, and they cover a wide range of possibilities. To help you keep track of it all, we've rounded everything up here in this handy guide so you can check them all out.

That's right, thanks to the recent GTA 6 Extended Look, which showed off a bunch of gameplay, as well as some interviews breaking down exciting new features, the new game will have a ton of stuff to do alongside main missions as you take control of crime couple Jason and Lucia. A chunk of side activities in GTA 6 shouldn't be super surprising to players, especially since the GTA 6 map is massive, but if you want to discover all that Leonida has to offer then keep on reading below.

Got a particular tune stuck in your head from the Extended Look? Then check out the GTA 6 soundtrack revealed so far to find your earworm.

GTA 6 side activities at a glance

• Water sports
• Scooter riding
• Basketball
• Diving and swimming
• Going to the gym
• VR
• Watching TV
• Car racing
• Carjacking
• Armed robberies
• Wrestling
• Dirtbiking
• Basejumping
• Clubbing
• Shooting range

The full GTA 6 side activities list

Water sports

There are a ton of water-based side activities waiting for us in GTA 6. From the Extended Look, we saw that there is Airboating in prime crocodile infested looking water. There is also jet skiing and kayaking in the ocean, so if you want a break away from land then there are plenty of options available for you.

Scooter riding

Yes, transport is primarily concerned with GTA 6 cars, but I did spot a bunch of characters riding scooters around the map in the Extended Look. More specifically, I saw e-scooters, meaning you can rent and charge them in your playthrough if you want to experience a more eco-friendly mode of transport. It's nice to have options, even as a criminal, right?

Basketball

In the Extended Look, we saw a short clip of Jason playing basketball in front of his beachfront safehouse. This likely means that we are getting a basketball mini-game, and I wouldn't put it past Rockstar to offer us multiple places to start shooting hoops as well. I'm personally hoping that we get confirmation of a 3v3 mode soon. So stay tuned.

Diving and swimming

Along with watersports, you will be able to swim in GTA 6 as well as scuba dive. In the Extended Look, we saw a character swimming in a wetsuit with manta rays. There were also dolphins in the trailer, so I'm betting that we will be diving with a whole host of sea animals come the game's release.

Going to the gym

One of the big features of GTA 6 is that what you eat will affect how Jason and Lucia look. So if you want to stay lean, you'll need to work out. The Extended Look showed Lucia hitting the weights, with you using button prompts to assist her. We haven't seen how we get to use the rest of the gym equipment just yet, but it will likely also be an interactive affair.

VR

This one shocked us, but the Extended Look did show a character using a VR headset in the window. The character did look like he was using VR for some... um, 'personal time'. Now, besides potentially using VR for porn, it isn't clear how we can interact with it just yet. But we do know that it exists in the game at least, so stay tuned for details.

Watching TV

In GTA 6, there are in-game shows and commercials that Jason or Lucia can watch with a cold drink in their hand. In the Extended Look, we saw a parody of an Arby's-looking commercial and a nature documentary as well. They were both super detailed, and honestly, I can't wait to channel surf to see what other offerings Rockstar has given us.

Car racing

Along with stealing cars, you will also get to race them in GTA 6. The Extended Look showed off a racing mini-game where we are on a dirt course driving laps next to other opponents. I'm still waiting for confirmation of how many race tracks there are, but for now we know that there is at least one to show off your driving skills.

Carjacking

This wouldn't be GTA without carjacking, so the ability and pastime to steal cars in GTA 6 is back. However, you will have to be more careful about doing this in the new game, as the world is more responsive and remembers more than previous titles. So make sure you cover your face and be smart about it!

Armed robberies

In GTA 6, you will be able to put on a mask and do a bunch of hits. In the Extended Look, we see Jason and Lucia holding up a liquor store and engaging in other armed robbery activities. So if you want to do some additional crime on the side, you are more than sorted, folks.

Wrestling

In GTA 6, you can engage in some hand-to-hand combat with some old-fashioned wrestling. In the Extended Look we see Jason getting tossed around a backyard ring, so if you need a break from shooting, you can help yourself to this side activity.

Dirtbiking

GTA 6 is all about the vehicles, so I paid close attention to all the ones on offer and spotted some dirt bikes in the Extended Look. In the teaser, we see a bunch of dirt bikes hitting a course in a race, which may also point towards big competitions being added as part of this side activity as well. Exciting times.

Basejumping

In the Extended Look, we see Lucia jumping into the air from the top of a tower and freefalling before you launch a parachute. This basically points to base-jumping being a side activity in the game, and I'm excited. Its inclusion means we will get to experience the Leonida skyline in multiple ways, and hopefully we get a fun mini-game related to it as well.

Clubbing

A GTA staple side activity returns as you can go to the club and dance the night away. Strip clubs are back, as well as making it rain on dancers with dollar bills. We only saw a few clubs in the GTA 6 trailers so far but I'm pretty positive that Leonida will be filled with them, so Jason and Lucia will have a grand old time.

Shooting range

In the Extended Look, we saw Lucia at a shooting range firing bullets at targets as they pop up from behind buildings. The mini-game looks like the perfect side activity for players needing to practice their reflexes and shooting skills with various GTA 6 weapons before any big jobs.

I'm still on the hunt for side activities, so look out for future updates to this page. In the meantime, we also have guides on the different GTA 6 versions that are available, as well as all of the GTA 6 locations that we have seen.

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Jason and Lucia are facing their toughest mission in GTA 6 so far: dinner with an older couple, Brian and Lori, at a rooftop restaurant with the unappetizing name of Effluvia. A job has come up that requires just one of them to step away, leaving the other to keep the conversation flowing between bowls of stuffed olives.

Jason turns to his partner. "I don't mind," he says. "If you wanted to…" But Lucia ignores his signals: "I'm gonna go." As she steps up to leave, Jason tilts toward her, halfway out of his seat. The subtext is clear: don't leave me here, with these people I barely know how to speak to.

Power couple

There's a lot of that in GTA 6, if Netflix's 26-minute reveal is anything to go by. There are plenty of noisy gunfights and screeching car tyres, but much of what we see of our two protagonists are the constant, quiet negotiations of life in partnership.

Early into the preview, Rockstar leans on the relatable clichés of heteronormative existence: a woman who clothes her boyfriend better than he could himself; a choice between two different dresses, which Jason fumbles; the restlessness of a man whose getting-ready routine is finished in five minutes flat, when faced with the intricate hair and makeup preparations expected of women.

But what follows is subtler and more powerful than that. Rockstar appears to understand that some of the most important conversations between couples happen in liminal spaces: the car on the way to the party; the elevator up to the rooftop bar. These are moments for team tactics - in which potential issues are raised, fears are voiced, and a shared approach is agreed upfront. Forget couple goals – these two have couple objectives, and they're being reassessed and renegotiated on the fly.

There are multiple points where Lucia reads Jason's discomfort in his body language, and pushes him to unpack what he's feeling. "Sometimes I'm just more comfortable when I have to use a gun," he admits. As many couples will attest, what you often need from your other half as you charge into the fray of a social event is simply a brief motivational speech – a pep-talk in ten words or less – and Lucia understands that too.

"Relationships are about communication, Jay," Lucia teases him with a laugh as he weaves between Vice City traffic. But it's not really a joke. There are two pairs of hands on this steering wheel, and each has the capacity to drive the other into the Bay. The gangster story may heighten the consequences of Lucia and Jason's decisions – a long jail sentence, or a bullet to the back of the head – but this joint responsibility is really the stuff of all serious relationships.

When Jason asks, "How do you wanna play it?", it's an acknowledgement that she has placed her life in his hands, and vice-city versa. Honoring that commitment means being open to discussion – the kind of private negotiations that all couples have as they find their way forward.

Rockstar has said that it'll be up to the player to decide how hard they lean into Jason and Lucia's romance over the course of the game. But it's clear that main missions will tug at their bond for dramatic effect. In a riff on Die Hard, Lucia is caught in a hostage situation while Jason plays the poltergeist upstairs, sending DIY bombs down the lift shaft.

The intermingled fear and relief is visible on Lucia's face as she hears Jason's voice crackling through the walkie-talkie – a dramatic irony the player gets to appreciate while the hostage-takers remain clueless. They don't realize they're dealing with a pincer movement from a pair of linked killers, who've developed a near-telepathic connection over countless evenings slumped together in front of the television.

Inevitably, that united front will break down, more overtly than it does in Effluvia. It's simply impossible that Rockstar won't pull that lever somewhere in GTA 6's second or third act. But even so, it's clear that this series is going to feel very different as a two-hander. GTA 5 had three protagonists, but they were tied by circumstance, greed and unfinished business. There was no way that Trevor, Michael, and Franklin made sense as a trio once the balaclavas came off.

By contrast, Jason and Lucia have chosen to tie their fates together – at least initially – and that means neither is a loose cannon in fake-Florida. Instead they're a pair of nunchucks, holding each other steady and reeling each other in as they fight to survive criminal existence. Thematically, if not mechanically, that's another kind of GTA entirely.

Rockstar is at pains to show that GTA 6 will host the kind of freedoms previous entries in the series have offered – base-jumping, motocross, swampy hovercraft rides. But my gut feeling is that this iteration will feel a little less free when its protagonists are apart. They are two halves, and must snap back together to be whole. Yet the consequent connection – to the characters, the story, the world – will be worth it. Every romantic relationship is a bet and a trade-off, and I'll bet on this one.

Our GTA 6 guide details everything you need to know about the story, gameplay, and world so far, while our Countdown to GTA 6 is packed with features covering the iconic series' past, present, and future!

We've finally had a lengthy look at GTA 6 gameplay for the first time during the Grand Theft Auto 6 extended look showcase. It's been a long time coming, as earlier trailers just set the game's (impeccable) mood with glimpses of the returning Vice City and wider Leonida state. Now, we've had big, uninterrupted chunks of gameplay showing criminal couple Jason and Lucia playing through missions, intercut with sizzle reels of side-activities.

GTA 6 is recognizably an evolution of earlier GTA games, but there are plenty of tweaks to familiar mechanics that are going to be transformative for the moment-to-moment experience. Similarly, fully new features alter how we think about our place in this criminal sandbox completely. Whether that's how integral Jason and Lucia's partnership feels through every sequence, or how the iconic Wanted system has had a serious overhaul, there's plenty to dig into as the Countdown to GTA 6 continues.

Read on to join me as I break down the 8 biggest gameplay features that will forever change how we play Grand Theft Auto going forward.

8. Two is better than three

On paper, having just two protagonists in Jason and Lucia might seem like a step down from GTA 5's Michael, Trevor, and Frankin trio. In fact, Rockstar Games did consider upping that to four for GTA 6. But, the choice to focus down is a smart one. What's striking about the couple from our extended look gameplay is how tightly they feed back into one another. They're constantly chatting back and forth about their criminal schemes, and when gunfire breaks out they smartly cover one another no matter who you're controlling.

One sequence has Lucia playing wheelman in a car chase as Jason shoots out the window; another has the pair fighting off enemies invading a millionaire's party, Jason shooting armed foes upstairs while Lucia has to use her fists down below, constantly trading off. Crucially, when apart, it feels a bit wrong – these two characters operate as a pair, and that's constantly felt in the gameplay design.

7. The Wanted system finally gets a detailed overhaul

Yeah, I love the arcade-like-rush of wreaking havoc and trying to survive maximum Wanted as much as the next person. But, with how detailed GTA worlds feel now, the system has started to feel a bit simplistic, creating some dissonance. That all changes in GTA 6, which is keeping the thrill of being Wanted while also adding more nuance to how it feels to escape, evade, and, ultimately, be profiled by Leonida state's boys in blue.

You'll need more than a quick spray paint on your car to throw off the cops. The six-star Wanted system escalates based on what you do, and how you make your escape, with the police force being able to track your face, clothes, and car as they hunt you down. In the gameplay showcase, we see Lucia have to torch a ride before swapping to a van, then carefully move through the city to avoid the still active sirens and Wanted meter (which turns from white to red). It's the kind of detail we saw in GTA 5's heists, now seemingly transitioned into a reactive system across the world. Even outside of being Wanted, every crime you commit will end up building up Jason and Lucia's criminal profile that defines their modus operandi – though there are still secrets around how this element will work.

6. Role-playing decisions affect your physique and well-being

GTA 6's RPG-style simulation elements pull from the promises of GTA: San Andreas and Red Dead Redemption 2, but with more nuance – like the aforementioned criminal profiles. Jason and Lucia will be able to get up to a mind-boggling number of activities across Leonida and Vice City, many of which will directly affect their physique, and potentially even their mood with one another. In one gameplay clip, we see the pair connected with a heart, but with angry emoji underneath them – a couple's spat, perhaps? – as Lucia basejumps and Jason shares a cold beer with the boys.

There's a physical element to this. Jason smoking cigars or munching on potato chips can have consequences, with it confirmed you will be able to get a little chubby (I've tested this in real life and it works). Likewise, we see Lucia lifting weights at a gym, and then beating the stuffing out of people on the street with just her fists. Another sequence playing as Jason allows us to press a button to hold hands with Lucia. Let's stay on her good side, maybe.

5. Detailed animations aren't just for show, but affect violence and thievery

Early in the extended look gameplay trailer I see Jason sling a bag of drugs over his shoulder as he and Lucia end up in the middle of a brutal police raid on a drug lab. It's a gorgeous animation that appears to happen in real-time, him slickly slipping it on. We saw similar details in Red Dead Redemption 2. But, importantly, moments like this aren't just for show in GTA 6, they permeate the entire gameplay showcase in ways that are important to gameplay.

Jason's mission to deliver these goods isn't a one-off. Bags of loot are scattered through the gameplay clips we've seen. The presence of actual goods to steal existing physically in the world is key. We see one sequence where Lucia is carrying so much she must use a shotgun one-handed, with a fantastic reload animation to match. In another, Lucia draws a pistol but holds it behind her back as she enters a store she's about to rob to avoid drawing alarm. Then, running out, with bags in tow, she leaps onto Jason's motorbike for the pair to make their escape. I love how this level of detail isn't just Rockstar Games showing off, but seems integral to play.

4. Extra layers to vehicle security makes hotwiring more nuanced

There's an odd moment in the GTA 6 gameplay showcase where Jason uses a slim jim to open a car window with a short QTE in order to successfully steal it. GTA fans like myself have suddenly realized how long we've taken the single-press car theft of earlier entries for granted. I have some reservations about this change, but I have to admit the more detailed security presents some interesting mechanical wrinkles that might be a lot of fun to play around with, making the streets of Leonida more immersive. After all, in the clip, Jason can still choose to smash the window if he chooses, so in some cases it may be a risk/reward choice depending on how brazen you can afford to be.

In GTA 6, Jason and Lucia will need to acquire specific tools in order to get into cars with different types of security. Nabbing an unsecured car will still be easy, but being forced to consider your next move when looking to quickly grab some wheels adds a brief tactical edge that could end up being more engaging than not having to think about it. The pair will have to make do with the tools they have when small-time, making the journey to bigger jobs with bigger scores something you actually feel while playing.

3. Car chases feel faster, dangerous, and crucially more grounded than ever

When behind the wheel, as well, I think I've taken GTA's car chases for granted in earlier games. While I can't say for sure until I play for myself, the driving model looks to be seriously improved from the last game even when cruising. And, when a car chase kicks off, either being hunted by the police or rival criminals, the tight camera really conveys a sense of speed. Whether driving yourself, or leaning out of the car to pop shots at pursuers, there's an electric sense of energy while the scale remains believable. Streets seem narrower and more real, so you'll need to actually be a solid wheelman if you want that responsibility.

Beyond criminal acts, we've gotten a glimpse at plenty of racing side-activities that seems to be a solid excuse to spotlight Rockstar Game's improvements in vehicle handling, as well as more leisurely pursuits like gliding through swamps on a boat. Moving through Leonida promises to be a serious treat.

2. Jason and Lucia's slick combat is a huge upgrade

Both gunplay and melee seem to be massively improved in GTA 6, much like its driving model. While both Jason and Lucia can do either, the gameplay showcase so far seems to position Jason as the gun expert with Lucia more of a bruiser. Whether these are specializations just for the showcase or something you can customize remains to be seen, but with how detailed roleplay aspects seem to be I wouldn't be surprised if that remains in your hands.

During a shootout in a dark office building at night, Jason takes cover in the shadows as he slickly pops out to deliver headshots (with killcams, naturally). Like in Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption, or Michael in GTA 5, he can slow time temporarily to aim focus shots – with the addition of highlighting enemy vulnerability points with red and yellow overlays. Lucia, meanwhile, stabs a man in the eye with her high heels in a QTE, but we also see her pumping iron at a gym and then fistfighting enemies, so she can handle herself well enough when not having to cover Jason with guns of her own.

1. Leonida is absolutely massive, and it can just as deadly as Jason and Lucia

Rockstar Games sandbox open world is big. Who would have guessed? But, I don't think I was prepared for both the sheer scale and density we've seen of GTA 6's Leonida so far. This is already looking so much bigger than GTA 5's Los Santos, and makes GTA: Vice City feel tiny in comparison (which is the last time we visited the Florida-inspired state). GTA 6's map is three times bigger than Red Dead Redemption 2's. A massive amount of side-activities reward exploration – kayaking, basketball, diving, clubbing, and way more (we counted 17 distinct activities in the gameplay showcase alone).

While Jason and Lucia seem more than capable of handling their journey through Leonida's criminal underbelly, they're far from overpowered – this is a world that can bite back. Outside of the police, robbing stores and gas stations will see citizens take the law into their own hands, and another sequence has the pair confronted by an angry woman with hammers (who also intrigued in the game's very first reveal). There's every chance this world could chew you up and spit you out, which makes the criminal fantasy all the more tantalizing to meet and master.

Our GTA 6 guide details everything you need to know about the story, gameplay, and world so far! Or, check out our best GTA games list for what to play while you wait!

The long, sometimes exhilarating, often exhausting road to GTA 6 has given us more twists and turns than the crime series' most memorable mission scripts. Now, just under three months from launch, it's finally within touching distance. We've now finally seen the bumper GTA 6 extended look showcase on Netflix. And we can now finally temper the omnipresent background noise and fix our gaze on November 19.

At least a little bit. Blocking out the external rabble, of course, has been a mission unto itself for literal years now. But if we take everything shown off during the 26-and-a-half-minute gameplay demonstration in isolation, powering through the next several weeks will be its own reward.

A sight to behold

Because, quite simply, GTA 6 in practice looks excellent. As I write this, in the immediate aftermath of one single watch-through of the larger-than-life mix of free-flowing gameplay, seamlessly transitioned cutscenes and staged set-pieces all captured on PS5, I'm fully aware I haven't taken everything in. Like you, I'll rewatch, again and again (on Netflix and latterly YouTube) and will then leave the subsequent, and inevitably enthralling, Easter egg hunt to the intrepid internet sleuths whose weird, wonderful and ever-meticulous discoveries will forever inspire. What I'll attempt to do right now is instead place this moment in time.

GTA 6 is huge. It's huge in spirit, in character and in detail; assertions that can now all be confidently made following a showcase that encompasses a botched drug deal, a post-bank robbery police chase and a millionaire's brutally ambushed party. My notes during these breakneck segments include: 'distinguishable arm hair', 'lifelike cellulite', 'brows slick with sweat', 'so many characters on screen' – scrawled shorthand that underlines how credible everything on show really is.

Between those set-pieces, flashes of domestic life outline thoughtful everyday exchanges between dual protagonists Lucia and Jason, and, better still, hint at just how big this world is.

There's a moment during the Extended Look where the pair leave their apartment, hop into a banged up-looking convertible and pull out of a car park into a busy thoroughfare. In that moment, Depeche Mode's 'People Are People' plays from the radio as the car's canvas roof retracts, and while it's not quite as iconic Tommy Vercetti revving up a scooter to the sound of 'Billy Jean' in the original Vice City, it's a stark reminder that we have a whole new Grand Theft Auto world with whole new possibilities to explore – for the first time in 13 years, no less.

This sense of scale and freedom is accentuated by snippets of Jason and Lucia shooting hoops, gliding through the Everglades, canoeing, swimming, tearing up nightclubs and rallying around Nascar circuits. Oh, and robbing a lot of commercial establishments at gunpoint. Switching characters prompts the familiar aerial zoom-in zoom-out system adopted by GTA 5 – and copied by the likes of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 – and duck-and-cover shootouts feel like GTA Online dialled up to 11. Which is, surely, the exact desired effect.

What I'm more enthralled by at this point, though, is the sophisticated interplay between the game's protagonists. Sure, this is but a snapshot of their relationship, but while GTA 5's trifecta of social class-spanning antiheroes are good fun, they're hardly what you'd describe as three-dimensional. GTA 4's Niko Bellic, in fact, was more well-rounded than Michael, Franklin, and Trevor, but I already want to learn more about Jason and Lucia as individuals and how they will operate as a team.

That longing for more will be my overarching feeling from hereon, but it's also one that's defined, and perhaps pervaded, GTA 6's path to this point in broader terms. I won't spend too much time addressing the most recent leaks but I do believe they're worth acknowledging in the wider context of the game's imminent release. Full disclosure: I was aware of them. I caught glimpses as they popped up on social media feeds and instant messaging chats over the last several days, but endeavored to by and large abstain knowing this Netflix offering was just around the corner.

I went into 'An Extended Look' relatively fresh, then, with wide eyes and an open mind. The latter, I can confirm, has since been assuredly blown. Because while it's been clear for some time the next venture of Rockstar's blockbuster open-world crime simulator series will be a generational tone-setter – something the leaks have inadvertently helped support – seeing it in motion, polished, pretty and, crucially, agonizingly close pre-release, is remarkable all the same. The leaks, then, are but another anecdote in what is surely one of the most intriguing game development stories in the history of video games, warts and all.

The recent leaks have been less than ideal. The source code leaks a few years back were less than ideal. News of the alleged union-busting practices behind the scenes on the road to release was less than ideal. But the very fact a video game gameplay preview has debuted on Netflix at all (albeit following on YouTube hours later) is a huge moment for video games.

Granted, this is a rich-in-resources series whose ads for previous online updates have dominated billboards in Times Square, and the 'coming soon' trailers that precede Marvel movies in cinema theatres, but this level of pre-release prestige is nevertheless worthy of admiration. These moments are transcendental, pushing video games firmly into the mainstream with a zeitgeist status that is, for me, up there with Fortnite's mid-pandemic Travis Scott concert, or going back a wee bit further, Lara Croft chugging Lucozade in British television adverts 30 years ago. The fact that my 76-year-old mother texted me 10 minutes after the showcase trailer dropped asking "have you seen the new GTA 6 on Netflix?" speaks volumes.

Love is a long, long road, crooned Tom Petty on the soundtrack of the first GTA 6 trailer at the very end of 2023. Now, closing in on one thousand days later with 281.4 million YouTube views in the bag since, the end of that road is now well within sight. How many times the latest GTA 6 Extended Look showcase will be viewed between now and November 19 remains to be seen, but enjoy this moment for everything it is: sometimes exhilarating, often exhausting; but also historic, both in Grand Theft Auto terms and the grand pantheon of video games more generally.

Our GTA 6 guide details everything you need to know about the story, gameplay, and world so far, while our Countdown to GTA 6 is packed with features covering the iconic series' past, present, and future!

The big Netflix preview of GTA 6 has come and gone, finally giving us a substantive look at the epic sandbox in motion. Among the various technical details provided by Rockstar, we now know the standard framerate of the epic release, at launch at the very least.

The footage shown, captured on the PlayStation 5 version, ran at 30fps, and Rockstar has since confirmed this will be how the game releases come November. GTA 6 will have this framerate on PS5 and Xbox Series X, and there likely won't be a specific performance mode to begin with.

Rob Nelson, co-studio head and head of development of Rockstar North, told Portuguese outlet Flow Games that further options may be added in the future. However, for the time being, the crime playground is 30fps.

Nothing was specified for the PlayStation 5 Pro, but from what's been said and shown, I wouldn't count on anything beyond what you'll be playing on the standard model and Xbox Series X. For the launch period, at the very least - more versatility will likely be added later, once Rockstar finally gets this thing out of its offices and into people's hands.

Though, it's worth remembering, frame-rate upgrades aren't generally a priority within the Scottish studio. Red Dead Redemption 2 doesn't have a 60fps upgrade, for instance, and GTA 5 only got it for the current generation, after the game had been out for literal years.

If it happens - and it's a big if - it probably won't be until the PS6 and new Xbox arrive. Yay for pushing you to buy new hardware in order to optimize your games! Look, after 13 years, let's just be glad the thing is coming out and functional.

GTA 6 wanted system goes up to 6 stars and lets police track your face, your clothes, and your car

Rockstar Games has reportedly shut down the idea that GTA 6 will feature microtransactions or use generative AI during its development.

On the Kinda Funny Gamecast, hosts Andy Cortez and Greg Miller share that they asked Rob Nelson – co-studio head at Rockstar North – whether there will be microtransactions in the game and whether generative AI was used during the development of GTA 6, with Nelson reportedly simply saying "no."

I have no doubts about the lack of generative AI used during development, but the lack of microtransactions is certainly interesting. It was revealed that GTA Online makes a staggering amount of almost $8 million per week, and that's undoubtedly thanks to Shark Card microtransactions for sale. It looks unlikely that GTA 6 Online will be available at launch, but this could imply that whatever the GTA 6 edition of GTA Online is could be a separate thing entirely.

We know for sure that GTA Online is on the way, thanks to court proceedings, but Rockstar has remained silent about what the GTA 6 edition of the Online mode will look like – not that it's been very talkative about the base game either, mind you. Although a later launch for an online mode isn't out of the ordinary for Rockstar, given that GTA 5 had a two-week wait before GTA Online launched, while Red Dead Redemption 2's Online mode launched in beta form a month later, with its full launch around a year and a half after launch.

I very much have my doubts we'll see a GTA 6 Online that doesn't feature microtransactions in some way, or a battle pass, or any other number of ways to monetize it for the next decade and a half. But at least we know it's not in the base game.

How long is GTA 6? About 80 hours, according to one Rockstar dev's playthrough.

If you've never been to the US, it might surprise you that the country isn't entirely made up of people in stars-and-stripes bikinis riding Harleys and twerking atop moving vehicles, alligators being fished from swimming pools, and grandmas dual-wielding sledgehammers. There's a lot of that stuff for sure, especially in Miami, Florida, which the GTA 6 setting Vice City is based on, but life in the country as a whole is a lot more nuanced and, frankly, less entertaining in general. That's why GTA is explicitly a satire, and a carefully considered one according to Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson.

"I think there's always stuff to satirize," Nelson tells IGN following GTA 6's deep-dive from Netflix. "As long as humans are humans, other humans will figure out ways to satirize what we do."

The stereotypes you see on TV, in movies, and playing games absolutely do exist here in the US, but they're usually local to different parts of the country. You'll see a very different episode of South Park, for example, if Trey Parker and Matt Stone are satirizing Portland, Oregon, compared to if they're making fun of Stigler, Oklahoma. Rockstar is picky about the parts of American life it pokes fun at, not only because of the intensely divided political and social climate enveloping the country, but because development cycles outlast a lot of topics that would otherwise be fun to satirize.

"For us, because we work on such a long development cycle, we have to not jump on stuff and instead choose our angle of approach carefully and decide what things are going to be a bit more timeless," Nelson says. "We're not a TV show coming out every week or every month. We have to be careful that what we're choosing to satirize is not going to feel dated in a weird way.

"I think those broader things are OK to satirize, but very specific political issues or memes will date fast. Even the way our characters speak we think about it a lot, so that they're not using extremely contemporary slang. Even though our characters are a certain age, they need to feel somewhat timeless."

GTA 6's hand-crafted NPCs have over 600,000 animations compared to only 55,000 animations in GTA 5

The level of visual detail in GTA 6 is staggering already, but there's going to be even more going on when you start interacting with all the NPC pedestrians that fill the world.

According to The New York Times, Rockstar said GTA 6 has well over 600,000 NPC animations compared to GTA 5's 55,000 and Red Dead Redemption 2's 300,000.

Judging from the recent GTA 6 extended look on Netflix, this will mean everyone you meet will move and react in different ways unique to them. And the only way Rockstar was able to pull this off was by dedicating an entire office in LA just to NPCs.

The goal was to make the world feel more bespoke and realistic. You won't be driving past crowds that mimic the same behavior as the people chilling on the beach. Everyone will have their own personality that will direct what they do—which might even include firing back at you if you threaten them.

Rockstar gave an example of an NPC dropping an object and immediately ignoring it in GTA 5. In GTA 6, NPCs will remember that kind of stuff because they're all hand-crafted rather than procedurally generated.

Co-studio head at Rockstar North Aaron Garbut explained how NPCs you encounter will materially exist in the world. "Every room in the game, somebody thought about this," he said. "Who's sitting where, what they're drinking, the marks that are left on the table. The pictures on the wall will have people that are in that room, with their tattoos on their arms and their family behind them. The whole thing has been made, and build, and photographed, and placed in this random room in a random building in a huge city, in a world."

All of this has me eager to pull an AnyAustin and follow NPCs around when the full game is out in November. I'm sure the main story will have its thrills, but I need to know what life is like in Leonida as the people who actually live there, not some shmuck like me who just showed up to cause some chaos.

The GTA 6 map is 3 times bigger than Red Dead Redemption 2's

GTA 6 aims to offer you plenty of freedom in getting up to various criminal shenanigans, but it's also built to tell a grounded story about two – presumably – sympathetic figures in Jason and Lucia. It seems Rockstar plans to address that the same way it did in Red Dead Redemption 2, as that game's honor system has evolved into GTA 6's criminal profile.

"This is a story about a couple on the run. We have tried to make the systems and the design support our narrative when and wherever possible," Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson tells IGN. "Meaning, if you hit and run, commit a crime and run, get into trouble and move on before the cops get there, and you don’t start shooting people, don't start escalating – which you absolutely can do if you want to – but if you don't, you're generally going to be fine."

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the honor system tracks all kinds of minor actions, from doing chores around camp to killing animals without skinning them, and those actions slowly add up to a score that determines your overall moral alignment. The honor score affects things like shop discounts, but it can also give you different cutscenes and bits of dialog in key parts of the story.

Rockstar hasn't spelled out what the consequences will be for managing your criminal profile in GTA 6 one way or another – I imagine it's trying to preserve that as a surprise for when the game actually launches. But it sounds like, if you choose to constantly escalate the violence, the game will start pushing back.

"If you're doing things on mission that you are required to do – or you’re robbing places, or somebody comes and messes with you and you have to deal with them by smacking them down or whatever – that’s all fair game," Nelson says. "It's when you go beyond what is necessary on a consistent basis, or you do completely unnecessary stuff consistently, that you may start to sway your criminal profile in a certain direction."

That plays into an effort to ensure you're not as "overpowered" in GTA 6 as in previous games. "You are still powerful and capable," Nelson says, "but you are not the only one capable of violence or the only one with weapons or the only crazy person out there. It makes the world far more unpredictable and interesting."

Check out everything you might've missed from the GTA 6 extended look.

Anyone who knows anything about anything knows GTA 6 is going to be a huge game. It's likely the most expensive video game ever made and is expected to be the biggest launch in entertainment history, but until now it wasn't known exactly how big it is, in terms of map size. Well, we have a rough estimate now, and it's even more expansive than anyone could have predicted.

Accompanying today's GTA 6 extended look from Netflix is a write-up from the New York Times (paywalled) in which, for the first time, Rockstar gives a pretty definitive confirmation of the game's map size: it's three times bigger than the one in Red Dead Redemption 2, folks.

If you've played Red Dead Redemption 2 for any length of time, you'll know its map feels nearly limitless and surprisingly dense for its size. To imagine something three times that size, and presumably with Rockstar's level of attention to detail, is genuinely daunting.

Of course, there are much bigger video game maps that exist already if we're talking pure square mileage – No Man's Sky and The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall come to mind immediately – but they're built by procedural generation with tons of empty space in between major hubs, whereas GTA 6's map, taking place in a satirized and fictional version of Miami, Florida, looks incredibly dense and packed with things to do and systems to interact with.

Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson has said the game feels like "a whole other world" with "a whole lot of stuff that you discover emergently that we're not necessarily directing you to through objectives or blips or icons on a map as well," adding that, "If you take a bit of time and explore you will be rewarded – a lot."

GTA 6 sounds like it's going to consume me, frankly, because I'm the type of open-world game enjoyer who needs to explore every nook and cranny to feel like I'm really getting my money's worth, so to say.

That said, Nelson's playthrough of the main campaign took him about 80 hours, which isn't too bad. It sounds like if you stick to the critical path you can beat the game in a somewhat reasonable amount of time, at least when we're talking about open-world games.

Rockstar considered giving GTA 6 four protagonists before deciding it would suck: "We worried about diluting the amount of player time with each"

You probably could've guessed this part: GTA 6 will bring back the series' wanted system. You'll still build up stars as police try to take you down ever more aggressively, but Rockstar's making some notable tweaks to the system in order to encourage players to play in different ways.

"The wanted system in GTA 6 requires that someone witness the crime, or an alarm needs to be set off for it to be reported to the law," Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson tells IGN. "One star is not going to be too difficult to get away from. You can see with these little icons on-screen, the police know what we're driving, so we should just jump out of the vehicle. They also know we're a couple. You could split up, and that will also help lower the police’s perception of you."

We see this demonstrated in the GTA 6 extended look, where a story mission has Jason and Lucia driving a client away from a group of very persistent cops. Here, we see that the wanted level can go up to six stars – GTA 5 had previously been capped at five stars.

Just below that, we see four icons representing how much the police recognize about Jason and Lucia: their clothes, their faces, their car, and the fact that they're together. Later in the mission, they break direct contact with the cops, turning four white wanted stars into four red ones, presumably indicating that the police are still hunting you but are not in active pursuit. They swap vehicles, removing the car icon from the screen, and watch a cop car that doesn't recognize the new vehicle roll right on by.

"We put a lot of work into how you can navigate the world, trying to make everything as smooth as possible to really encourage this type of gameplay where you are running and getting out of the car, jumping and climbing fences," Nelson says. "If you get three stars in the city, it can sometimes be challenging to get away in a vehicle, unless it's a very fast vehicle or a sports bike. Your best option is usually to do this – get off the streets and get on foot into the alleys."

How long is GTA 6? About 80 hours, according to one Rockstar dev's playthrough.

Netflix held up surprisingly well when the GTA 6 Extended Look dropped earlier today. Twitch, however, took a nosedive about an hour after, robbing everyone of the frame-by-frame analysis from their favorite streamers.

Twitch didn't specify what exactly caused the issues, but acknowledged them in a post on X: "We are aware of issues impacting several areas of our site. Our teams are working to resolve these."

Instead of a page full of stream thumbnails, the Twitch homepage threw up an error saying something went wrong. You could view the Browse page to look through all the categories, but individual streams had permanent black screens.

Chat continued to work, which made the whole thing extra bizarre as people who presumably already had the stream loaded before the outage talked amongst each other like nothing happened.

Around 30 minutes after everything crashed, Twitch pages started to intermittently load again despite the status page reporting major outages for many of the main systems, including web, chat, and video. Not every steam immediately came back up though, and I imagine things will be spotty for the next hour or so as everything gets completely resolved.

I'm sure it wasn't pleasant for anyone trying to get a peek at the GTA 6 Extended Look without a Netflix subscription. Even though Rockstar plans to host it on its YouTube channel later today, the only way to see the gameplay was to watch someone else watch it or scour the internet for someone brave enough to upload the entire thing.

Given that GTA 6 is the topic of the most popular streams on Twitch today, Amazon is probably not particularly happy that it stumbled today of all days. I'll be curious to see how it holds up when GTA 6 is out in the wild and everyone and their mother will want to hit the go live button to share the experience.

How long is GTA 6? About 80 hours, according to one Rockstar dev's playthrough

Since its last Grand Theft Auto game featured three playable protagonists, Rockstar wondered if its next one should offer the same, or better – four playable protagonists. But the developer seems to have quickly decided that would be an awful fate for GTA 6.

Co-studio head Rob Nelson explains to IGN, "After doing GTA 5, we talked about different ideas of – do we do more characters? How do we follow up three characters? Is it four characters now? But we worried about diluting the amount of player time with each and therefore player connection with those characters."

Finally, "we decided to step in this direction of two characters in a relationship," says Nelson. The GTA 6 extended look that premiered on Netflix gave us a better understanding of that relationship, the sometimes tense partnership between criminals Lucia and Jason – who are impossible to break up, even if you try. The two are soulmates in breaking the law... though, depending on how you play, they may not be perfectly suited to each other in other parts of life.

It depends on how much you engage with GTA 6's romance, which Rockstar seems eager for players to experience. Nelson says, "Chemistry is a notoriously hard thing to do in any sort of entertainment. Either the characters and the actors that embody them have it – or they don't. Everyone involved worked at that pretty hard. I think we've got it.

"I think we've got enough reaction within our team internally to where [Lucia and Jason] feel great as individuals and together," the studio lead says.

That last point is important – there's time in GTA 6 for getting to know both Lucia and Jason as people, not only as a romantic unit. With as many as four protagonists, you'd be juggling an unforgiving social calendar.

Nelson says, "As the narrative unfolds, we're quite conscious to try and make sure that players have enough time with each character." Good thing Lucia and Jason aren't part of a throuple.

Like Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA 6 is "a whole other world" where "there's a whole lot of stuff that you discover emergently."

A playthrough of GTA 6 could last you around 80 hours, if one Rockstar developer's fairly recent playthrough is any indication

Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson spoke to the New York Times about the making of GTA 6. One key detail is casually slipped into the report: Nelson played through GTA 6 in February 2026, and it took him 80 hours.

Nelson's run evidently covered the main story and "some optional goals with narrative ramifications," the New York Times explains. Focusing more on side content would surely grow that playtime considerably, with Rockstar promising greater depth and detail than any of its previous games.

Staggeringly, Rockstar says GTA 6's map is three times larger than Red Dead Redemption 2, already regarded as one of the most ambitious open-world games of all time.

"I hope that there will be people that want to get up, have a cup of coffee, shower, get dressed, go out for a little exercise," Nelson says, digging into the activities and routines available to protagonists Jason and Lucia.

"Here I am eating an apple, opening the fridge and drinking a smoothie," he says. "So this will increase my health temporarily for a while, allowing people to sort of role-play.”

If you do get invested in this personalization and micro behaviors, GTA 6 may well last you hundreds of hours at base, before even getting into post-launch updates and online content. We can only speculate on the true depth of the game, but the GTA 6 extended look live reveal and the ensuing information salvo – like NPC interactions also going considerably further than Red Dead Redemption 2 – points to a considerably richer game.

GTA 6 players won't be as "overpowered" as previous games: "You are not the only one capable of violence."

GTA 6 finally got its big (and official) extended look on Netflix today, giving fans their most indulgent preview yet of Rockstar's upcoming open-world behemoth. A bunch of different locations, gameplay systems, and characters were showcased, previewing what's sure to be a sprawling adventure jam-packed with unintended interactions, moving the benchmark for open world interactivity even further than what Red Dead Redemption 2 achieved back in 2018.

According to Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson, you'd do well to explore every inch of GTA 6's huge map. "There is a whole other world in Red Dead Redemption 2, yes. GTA 6 is very much like that," Nelson tells IGN. "There's a whole lot of stuff that you discover emergently that we're not necessarily directing you to through objectives or blips or icons on a map as well. If you take a bit of time and explore you will be rewarded – a lot.

"It's a big map, a very big map."

It being the most expensive game ever made, GTA 6 is expected to push boundaries in pretty much every way, from emergent gameplay to raw visuals to systems interactivity. In fact, Nelson says it's so expansive that no one at Rockstar has yet to really experience the whole thing, less than three months to launch. "The game is so big, I don't know that there's anybody on the team that knows all of it."

GTA 6 launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X on November 19.

Rockstar lead says GTA 6 takes NPC interactions "much further" than Red Dead Redemption 2, and its system is "returning and evolved"

You won't be the only threat walking around the streets of GTA 6 and the world will react to how loud you want to be.

In an interview with IGN, Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson says the team wanted to recreate the fragility of living in a world like Red Dead Redemption 2's lawless West in GTA 6.

"In previous games, you're quite overpowered in the world compared to everyone else apart from the cops, which can be fun, but not as fun, I don't think as having a world where there may be other people that have impulses on their own and act upon you," he says. "You are still powerful and capable, but you are not the only one capable of violence or the only one with weapons or the only crazy person out there. It makes the world far more unpredictable and interesting."

Nelson said it's up to you to decide how reckless you want to be, but there will be consequences, especially "when you go beyond what is necessary on a consistent basis."

He's describing what sounds like a kind of dynamic difficulty system that will keep you in check for the entirety of the game, pressuring you to play by the rules as much as you can. While I'm sure there will be a point where you have access to any kind of guns or vehicles you want—this is a GTA game after all—the people of Leonida will bite back if you provoke them.

The recent GTA 6 trailer on Netflix showed us all kinds of opportunities for you to trigger this reactive difficulty system. We saw races, robberies, and hijacking that can all go sideways if you're not careful. And we're not even talking about the ways the police can catch you just be recognizing things like your car.

Oh no, you can doomscroll in GTA 6

The GTA 6 extended look live reveal made a point of emphasizing how dual protagonists Jason and Lucia can engage with NPCs in a range of ways, both verbally and physically. Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson says NPC interactions have evolved considerably, with GTA 6 standing on the shoulders of Red Dead Redemption 2 in many ways.

Speaking with IGN, Nelson says "we pushed interaction with NPCs as far as we could for Red Dead Redemption 2" but GTA 6s "taking it much further."

"The team has done an incredible job to create all of this crazy dialogue, and you can stand there and listen to them, but we’ve tried to find a balance where if you stand too close to a group, they should notice that you're eavesdropping," he says.

This type of reactivity was seeded in Red Dead Redemption 2, Nelson explains, tracing Rockstar Games' history. If you get too close to NPCs or linger for too long, they may notice you, "be aggressive," or simply "want to get away from you."

"When we first started these ideas back on Red Dead Redemption 2, we thought if we could get it working there in a more sparsely populated world, we imagined what it might feel like at scale in a modern world," Nelson says.

We see examples of NPC interaction and reaction throughout the big GTA 6 reveal. Jason can praise, scold, pet, or study a dog found in what looks like a drug house – a useful demonstration of a left trigger-based system for referencing interact options. Later, after Lucia puts on a mask and pulls a gun while heading into a story, two nearby NPCs nervously but quietly walk away from the scene of the impending crime.

"In Red Dead Redemption 1 and GTA 5 there were basic systems for interacting, but the interactions were very simple," adds Nelson. "But with Red Dead Redemption 2, we were finally able to incorporate the ability to interact with NPCs as a more fleshed-out system."

For GTA 6, Rockstar has more than doubled in size since Red Dead Redemption 2, and has an entire Los Angeles branch dedicated to realistic NPCs.

GTA 6 is led by its very own Bonnie and Clyde, the beautiful pair of killers Lucia and Jason, but you should never worry about how great you are at sharing your love language while keeping the pair happy and coated in gunpowder. There's no way for them to break up, Rockstar says.

"They will remain partners in crime," co-studio lead Rob Nelson tells IGN about Lucia and Jason. "You will always have the benefit of working together and having each other's back – whether they're romantically close or not doesn't change that. They will still work together."

"It's really about what you want for them," Nelson continues, "their story, and how it plays out. Whether you've nurtured the relationship or not will definitely have a bearing on how their story plays out." The GTA 6 extended look that premiered on Netflix shows Lucia and Jason in harmony, for the most part, with the two changing outfits in Lucia's pink bedroom, riding side-by-side in a fast car, and sauntering into drug busts together. When the situation gets violent, they seem in step with each other about how many Molotov cocktails to throw.

But Lucia and Jason sometimes seem to scrape against each other even during these mundane – for them – couple activities. When Lucia presents Jason with a fresh, black shopping bag, he reminds her with a touch of irritation, "I can buy my own clothes, you know." Later, she chastises him for being withholding, saying, "Relationships are about communication, Jay."

So while Nelson tells IGN that how much you engage with GTA 6's romance is completely "up to you," the game's tone seems to depend on your willingness to be a lovebird.

"It really adds a compelling element to things," Nelson says about romance, "and it’s one of the reasons we wanted to approach this sort of story, because it's completely different for us. Could we bring some sort of emotional resonance to GTA for people if they wanted to engage with it? Could we also provide mechanisms for people to just opt out of it if they're not into it?" No matter what you choose, you won't be penalized. Remember, Lucia and Jason are together forever – even if you accidentally hit Jason with a stiletto heel and cry about how you always knew he was like your father (I'm guessing).

It's just nicer to be nice. "When you bring them together, it feels like you're a steward of their relationship, and you feel protective of them as a unit," says Nelson. "This is something we did not know when we started, and it really had to be something we felt our way through."

"Whether you’re getting in trouble, or you're running from the cops, or getting in a car, or waiting for the other one – playing as them together feels very cool," Nelson continues. "It feels like you're taking care of them, if that's something you're into."

New GTA 6 activities, customization, and gameplay details revealed alongside 63 gorgeous screenshots.

The titular Grand Theft Auto hasn't gone missing in GTA 6, but Rockstar aims to bring more nuance to the carjacking gameplay this time around.

In the GTA 6 extended look, we see Jason given a couple of options for how to steal a car in GTA 6. Walking up to the door, two button prompts appear on screen: you can either tap circle to smash the window and bust in just like in older GTA titles, or you can hit triangle to employ a slim jim and get in more quietly. The latter option involves a very brief minigame with the right stick.

It sounds like the slim jim won't be the only piece of carjacking equipment you'll pick up over the course of the game, either. "We have put some layers of stratification into the vehicles,” Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson tells IGN. “Previously, you could just press triangle to automatically hotwire and steal any vehicle that you wanted and take off. We felt like that left a lot of potential gameplay on the table in terms of progression and decision-making for players."

As Nelson explains, "you start off the game and there are certain parked cars that are not accessible to you until you get a bit further along with the story and you acquire certain tools to get into them."

That's a substantial departure from previous GTA games, where you were more or less free to jack any vehicle you come across the instant you see it, whether it's an old beater or an exotic performance car. Of course, you do have one recourse to grab those high-end GTA 6 cars from the start of the game: just find somebody already driving one. "You can always carjack any driver you see," Nelson says.

There's also now a phone app that gives you additional details on cars you may want to steal. "For example, it tells me this car is locked, it's got an alarm, and has no tracker," Nelson says. "It also tells me how much it’s worth if I go to take it to a Pay n' Spray or a specialty car fence, and how much it would cost for me to register it for myself. So, for example, this car needs a key cloner. This other car will just need a Slim Jim. So we've added a lot of fun little tools you need or mechanics you need to perform these formerly binary actions."

Here's everything you need to know about all the GTA 6 versions out there.

GTA 6 leaker Cyberleek looks to have retreated after squeezing $250,000 out of the crypto market using unofficial clips of Rockstar's game.

Per Kotaku, GTA Forum sleuth Vice Cit has been investigating Cyberleek's crypto activity and recently reported that the leaker transferred about $250,000 into different separate wallets across four transactions on August 27.

"This isn't the 2022 leak, this has been planned out and executed very intentionally to maximize the money they'll make from this," Vice Cit writes.

The financial mechanisms employed differ slightly to an archetypal crypto rug pull – here, 270 million reserve coins were seemingly burned to stoke trader trust and let the coin continue accruing transaction fees, rather than selling them off before the value tanks – but the end result is a pump and dump nevertheless, with Cyberleek looking to get out while the gettin' is still good.

"This was definitely done to give crypto whales more confidence in actually trading the coin and contributed to the coin exploding in price and market cap over the last few days. Instead of rug pulling the coin CyberLeek opted to make their money from transaction fees from people buying and selling the coin," explains Vice Cit.

From day one, the person or group behind Cyberleek has used GTA 6 leaks as vehicles to promote its own crypto coin through QR codes and watermarked links. With the value of that coin now embedded in the dirt after freefall, there's no reason to keep up the grift.

The most recent GTA 6 leak clip saw over four minutes of the prologue story for female protagonist Lucia spill online. It came with Cyberleek's loudest, most desperate plea yet: "Trading volume price is how CL measures your support. CL will not continue without support. You decide."

It's perhaps no coincidence that this apparent cashout has come as everyone is wondering how to watch the GTA 6 extended look today. It's possible Cyberleek just saw the writing on the wall, began to fear being uncovered as Take-Two ramps up investigations into the leaks, or anticipated a decline in interest and trading volume as Rockstar's Netflix reveal steers the conversation away from leaks.

I wouldn't be surprised if Cyberleek, who increasingly appears to have limited access to a non-standard build of GTA 6, springs one last leak right on the heels of the Netflix show in pursuit of imagined internet clout. But if this really is the end, it's as dumb as the whole leak saga.

GTA 6 extended look live coverage – All the news as it happens from Netflix's deep dive stream.

The collective industry is bracing itself for the launch of GTA 6 in November. It's going to be tectonic, and soak up a lot of people's attention for some time afterward. Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Studios is remarkably calm about Rockstar's oncoming storm, mostly because of the crime sandbox's staggered rollout.

"Rockstar makes ridiculous, high-effort stuff and it's awesome that games like this get made," Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani says in a statement. "On a selfish level I'm happy it’s not hitting PC right away, and that online isn’t dropping at launch."

We actually don't know for certain what (if any) online features GTA 6 will sport at launch, but Rockstar has certainly hinted that it'll be a single-player-focused game, at least at first. GTA Online notably did not launch until a few weeks after GTA 5.

Either way, these factors offer some breathing room for Jorjani's game about smooshing bugs and dismantling cyborgs in an unending space war. "It means Helldivers 2 gets to keep crushing it in our own space, and is also why it won’t be the all consuming behemoth everyone’s worried about," he adds.

That much is a salient point. While we're all waiting for the next Grand Theft Auto to take over pop culture, it's only launching on PS5 and Xbox Series X. PC-exclusive players have to wait, and those who are more concerned about the online aspects will likely have to remain seated for an unspecified amount of time, too.

This won't slow down the advertising and news segments, mind - you can expect to see GTA 6 headlines right up through Christmas, at the very least. And Jorjani gives credit where credit's due in the fact that none of this is unusual for Rockstar, who's just doing what it's been doing for decades.

"Everyone in the industry right now is constantly pivoting strategies and obsessing over early player feedback just to survive," he comments. "But Rockstar has the brand power to confidently take their time and run their classic play."

This is a developer and publisher that's been in this position going right back to Grand Theft Auto 3. These releases are events, they've become tougher and tougher competition over the years, and Jorjani believes the benchmark will once again shift this go around.

"They have the confidence and freedom to spend a decade doing things the old-school way because they know the core game will deliver," he adds in closing. "It’s going to raise the bar for sure."

GTA 6 promises big consequences for your actions that go beyond Red Dead Redemption 2's honor system

Among the waves of new features being announced for GTA 6 is possibly the worst thing to come out of the world in the last decade: doomscrolling on social media.

Plenty of new information has come out about GTA 6 over the last few days, and from more official sources than Cyberleek. It's been confirmed that you can get ripped or chubby in GTA 6 depending on your actions, and the upcoming entry will reportedly have a consequences system deeper than Red Dead Redemption 2's. This is all before the Netflix extended look has even been released.

An article in Dazed featuring Rockstar North's head of development, Rob Nelson, has given fans plenty to look forward to when GTA 6 is finally released in November. However, one thing we're not looking forward to is adding more opportunities for doomscrolling into our lives.

GTA 6 is notable for its dual protagonists, Jason and Lucia, who will play very differently from GTA 5's trio. The player will apparently be able to switch between the two characters multiple times within a single scene, meaning you can "cruise along the highway as Jason, or swap to Lucia in the passenger seat."

And what else would Lucia be doing in the passenger seat of a car on a long car journey but doomscrolling social media on her phone? As a satire of life in 2020's America, GTA 6 will apparently have smartphones with working social media feeds.

So if you were worried that the launch of GTA 6 would take away from your precious time spent doomscrolling social media, you can now rest easy.

"I think some of the team were a little shocked by the tabloid response," says original GTA dev: "We'd made a game that gamers, critics, and the people actually playing all thought was pretty bloody good"

GTA 6: An Extended Look debuts in a few hours still, but a developer who worked on 007: First Light's incredible crowds says Rockstar Games' NPC tech is already miles ahead of the competition based on the huge leaks we've been privy to so far.

The hacker known online as Cyberleek has been sharing early looks at the open-world game for a couple of weeks now, and some of those videos have given fans a peek at GTA 6's bustling crowds enjoying themselves at the beach or at the strip club, say. But the early clips have also left cheeky onlookers a bit divided - whether Rockstar's achieved the crowd density it showed off in GTA 6's first trailer is up for debate.

In the eyes of Berkay Dursun, an IO Interactive AI programmer who worked on the under-the-hood tech powering the new James Bond game, GTA 6's bustling flocks of people aren't even in the same league as other games.

In response to a tweet that was disparaging GTA 6's crowd density by comparing it to Hitman's also really impressive rabble of people, Dursun explains that "every character is simulated individually" in Rockstar's upcoming game - or, at least, that's how it seems based on what's been shown. That's different to the way games like Hitman and Assassin's Creed handle crowds, where most NPCs don't actually have any AI programming, schedules, or behaviors running underneath. They're essentially repeating movements to make crowds look as busy as possible.

"And achieving simulations on this scale puts them at least 10 years ahead of the industry," Dursun continues, per a machine-translated tweet that's been fact-checked by GamesRadar+. "The closest game that does simulation on this level might Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord" - a game Dursun also had a hand in creating.

GTA 6 promises big consequences for your actions that go beyond Red Dead Redemption 2's honor system

After more than a week of nonstop leaks, we're finally getting our first, real official look at GTA 6 gameplay later today. GTA 6: An Extended Look will soon debut on Netflix, and ahead of the broadcast, the streaming giant has revealed both the runtime and a few details about its content.

The Netflix page for the GTA 6 debut was recently updated to confirm that the event is 26 minutes long. "Captured entirely from in-game footage on PlayStation 5, this extended look at the next Grand Theft Auto showcases the biggest, most immersive evolution of the series yet," a press release adds.

Given PlayStation's apparent involvement in GTA 6's marketing, it's no surprise that the PS5 will be front-and-center here. But it is notable that the word "Pro" is nowhere to be found here. The PlayStation Store page for GTA 6 notes that the game is "PS5 Pro Enhanced," but we've yet to see any details on what those enhancements will look like. I'm glad the bulk of the show will seemingly demonstrate the experience base PS5 users can expect, but I also really want to know what the Pro enhancements will be.

Either way, this probably won't be a true first look at gameplay for many people eagerly awaiting GTA 6. Rockstar says the leaks have been "heartbreaking" for the devs, and while it's tough to sympathize with a faceless game studio – especially one currently embroiled in a messy union dispute – it's equally tough to find much love for a leaker pushing transparent crypto scams and $165,000 ad-buying opportunities.

Later today, at long last, we're getting a proper look at GTA 6 – albeit one that'll be stuck behind a temporary Netflix pay gate, which is an issue all on its own. It'll officially be released on YouTube six hours later, but if you're impatient, something tells me the leaks out of the public Netflix feed will be pretty tough to plug, too.

Join us for the full countdown to GTA 6.

It was 1997. The UK was on a high. The general election that year had brought about the end of a Conservative government and the beginning of what was said to be a new era. British music was thriving to the point that a fresh movement – Britpop – had been created, with the UK even winning the Eurovision Song Contest. JK Rowling released the first of her Harry Potter novels, The Philosopher's Stone. The phrase 'Cool Britannia' may have become rather tiresome, with The Economist saying the following year that the public had grown sick of it, but it sure encapsulated the mood of the time.

Gaming formed part of this British creative wave. WipEout was enthralling clubgoers, boys were lusting after Lara and, fresh from releasing the classic Lemmings, DMA Design was sensing a change in the way games were being perceived. Dave Jones, DMA's co-founder, felt gaming should tap into the wider world of entertainment. He wanted people with an interest in film, music, books and a broader sense of popular culture to play. More than that, DMA wanted people to forget that they were playing a game and immerse themselves into an environment instead.

The DMA team cracked on with a city simulator. Programmer Mike Dailly produced a prototype on his 486 PC, working with an isometric viewpoint and all of the action on foot due to issues getting vehicles around the city. But when it came to actually playing this early prototype, it was deemed too slow. It didn't help that Syndicate Wars looked similar, so Dailly went back to the drawing board and created a second prototype, this time from a side-on perspective.

A short while later, Dailly spoke to John Whyte, the lead programmer of Body Harvest for the N64. Whyte had wanted to create a top-down racer but Jones wasn't interested, yet it got Dailly thinking. Adding a floor to his side-on demo, he turned his second prototype from a side-on view to a top-down perspective. Then, using the first prototype as a base, he built perspective points using cubes to produce a pseudo-3D effect. DMA's management team loved it, and the new game, entitled Race'N'Chase, was given the go-ahead.

In 1995, DMA drew up design documents for the title. Aiming "to produce a fun, addictive and fast multiplayer car racing and crashing game which uses a novel graphics method" and set in the present day, the developers had an idea for three cities, each with their own graphical style. The game was to be packed with missions. There were, the document detailed, to be pedestrians. Such bystanders could be run over by cars. Players could also get out of cars and steal others. And this would attract the attention of the police.

The initial meetings about the direction of the game were somewhat chaotic. "The only agreed direction was that we were basically writing a game that we would want to play ourselves," says lead programmer Keith Hamilton. "Everything had to be interactive. The player had to be able to drive any vehicle he could find. Nothing was to be off-limits. We wanted fun situations to present themselves just by all the elements coming together, not necessarily in ways that were specially designed."

About the only thing they could decide upon at this stage was that the top-down view was the best way forward, nixing suggestions of using full 3D from a very early stage. DMA wanted whatever game was made to be delivered over multiple platforms – the PlayStation, PC and, originally, the Saturn – and while it was theoretically possible to do 3D on the PC, the console versions simply wouldn't support it. "The choices were to more or less develop two different game engines, or focus on making the game as rich and deep and fun as we could on an engine that would run across all of the platforms," recalls writer Brian Baglow. "So we did that. I think it was the right decision."

Although design documents existed, much of the game was made up on the spur of the moment. "The game evolved," explains Dailly. "It was a true 'team-designed' game." Each design decision therefore became an experiment. The 'eureka' moment came when the team thought about the player leaving their own car and getting into a different one. They realised that, because the other car wasn't really the player's, they must be a criminal, and so the infamous GTA theme was born.

"We envisaged a straight cops-and-robbers driving game," recalls Baglow. "But it went from that to a car-based crime sim and wild sandbox adventure. We initially had the player as a good guy, and it was a long way down the line before the decision to try playing as the criminal was made. And at that point, we could see that there was something in there. Something fun and unique."

As the months went by, DMA's new game, which changed its name to Grand Theft Auto mid-project, started to grow. A lot of fresh talent was hired to work on the game, resulting in a very young team.

Despite the inexperience, the ambition remained. The simulation aspects of the game continued to be important, especially for Hamilton, who felt it was crucial to create a city that the player could see in action and then enjoy interfering with. For this reason, police cars drove all the way from the police station to a crime, while ambulances motored from the hospital and contained little characters with stretchers to pick up bodies. "If you followed them, you could see that they actually went back to the hospital," says Hamilton. The team also planned to have teams of traffic light repairmen who would drive out and fix any traffic lights if you broke them. "We dropped that because it was getting a bit too anal and because players just ignored the traffic lights anyway."

City slickers

The levels were designed by just three people: Stephen Banks took on San Andreas, Billy Thomson looked after Vice City, and Paul Farley was responsible for Liberty City. Farley had quit a degree in architecture and only envisaged being with DMA Design for six months while he figured out what he wanted to do with his life, and when he started on GTA it was little more than an ugly-looking and rather rough demo. Yet while it wasn't the game everyone on the team wanted to produce – "I think most of us would rather have been working on one of the sexier Nintendo first-party games," says Farley – those working on it soon recognised the game's potential.

"The actual level design was fairly straightforward in the most part," says Farley. "At the time I came on board there were some rough guidelines to the possibilities and limitations of the game engine. The head of art had already written down some core design considerations regarding the flow of space within the game. This helped communicate to the team some of the fundamental aims of the driving part of the game."

The team were big fans of topdown racers like Super Sprint and Micro Machines, and these games informed some of the vehicle-handling objectives. "Even from an early stage, we were looking at how to make the driving flow well and be as forgiving as possible – the geometry of the levels plays a huge part in enabling this," continues Farley. "I think we did a good job of both allowing the player space to express themselves and their driving skills, while providing contrasting spaces to support gameplay focused on pedestrian play. A real difficulty was the lack of diagonal road or sidewalk tiles. I know I struggled with some aspects of Liberty City because of that limitation."

The team was given a lot of freedom on the game's direction. Remarkably, only one person on the team had ever shipped a game before, but despite that, they were handed a huge amount of responsibility and ownership over the title and, says Farley, it helped them make clear and quick decisions. Each of the three level designers took one of the city maps each.

"You can clearly see the different approaches coming through both the level design and missions across the three maps," explains Farley. And they had a laugh doing it. "Quite early on, the sense of humour in the team was becoming evident in the game. In keeping with this cheeky nature, it seemed natural to take real-life American cities as our inspiration and send them up a little. I'm sure there are kids that fly into New York for the first time and are more familiar with it as Liberty City. I hope they aren't disappointed; it's an amazing city but not quite like it's portrayed in-game."

The criminal aspects let the imagination of the team run riot. It was possible to mow down a line of Hare Krishnas to earn a 'Gouranga' bonus, for instance. "We could also use the pager and text to tell the players about things that didn't really happen, like with bomb shops and respray shops," adds Baglow. "Some cars wouldn't remap, so the idea was going to be dropped. It was suggested giving the player a message saying the plates had been changed instead. Simple, fast and it worked."

Some ideas didn't make it, however. Vehicles, characters, missions and city locations all got cut along the way. "We wanted combine harvesters to mow down pedestrians. We never quite had time for it, so never had to consider the issue of whether that might have been taking things too far," says Hamilton. Cutscenes, voiceovers and cinematic sequences were also axed, with the game having just one cut-scene per city for the main bad guys.

"We also ended up losing the original maps, which is a tragedy," continues Baglow. "We had created full maps for each town and around the border of each were adverts for local businesses, vouchers and tourist destinations, all made up and in keeping with the style and feel of each city. It's one of the few things I never managed to get a copy of or find when the company became Rockstar North. In my imagination, they were awesome. In real-life… well, we may never know."

Other ideas were in the PC version but dropped for consoles due to hardware limitations. "Speaking for the PlayStation version, we had big problems with the trains mainly due to the way they were implemented on the PC. They used a lot of memory and were only used properly in a few missions, so we had to drop them. It was unfortunate, but we had to live with the realities of the situation," explains PS1 programmer Russell Kay.

According to Farley, however, the team was fearless. It wasn't scared of failure and it was open to new ideas. Some of the team even wanted missions involving burning churches but, above all, they wanted to give the player a sense of right and wrong. "The player could choose not to act in a certain way if they didn't want to. If we had included missions where you were forced to single out certain groups of people to kill or abuse based on race or religion, that would have been a step too far, and it would have devalued the player's sense of choice to the detriment of the game and its subsequent success."

On a mission

One of the problems that faced the team was how best to integrate the missions. The level designers were using fairly complex tools to create fun, challenging and exciting activities for the player, but it ran as a series of challenges that were fundamentally unconnected. The game essentially ran along the lines of 'go here, steal this car, drive to this point, leave it, get on a bike, take it to this point' and so on. So once the missions were in place, it was up to Baglow to come up with the specifics of what exactly the player was doing and why.

"This 'plot' or narrative had to be delivered," he explains. "There were no voiceovers, animation or cut-scenes featuring a rich variety of protagonists. Instead we had around 120 characters on a 'pager' at the top of the screen. This was years before Twitter too! Everything had to be scaled back and written for the maximum amount of information in the smallest amount of space."

But that wasn't the only problem he faced. "The missions could be played in pretty much any order within each city, so there was no real way of doing any sort of linear plot within a single city. Putting together little self-contained missions was a definite challenge. There was a lot of allusion and implied action taking place elsewhere, just to make the writing reflect the 'living, breathing city' thing that the whole game embodied."

The non-linear mission system came later in the game's development. At first, the game had players returning to a sub-menu to select their next mission, but the level designers felt this broke the immersive nature of the game and that the front end was too boring. Coming up with the idea of spawning missions from payphones, characters, vehicles and other in-game elements was groundbreaking at the time, effectively building the level selection into the game itself, and it made a huge difference to the player's suspension of disbelief.

"I don't think the code team were initially very pleased at this because they had never designed the engine to run indefinitely," says Farley. "The new mission structure certainly created a number of new issues for them to solve, but I'm glad they did."

The key to this was the level scripting system. The programmers invented a language that the level designer could use to set up the missions so that they would all be different. But although this brought great freshness to the game and the title was starting to come along at a cracking pace, with the 20-strong team working hard to perfect the gameplay, the whole project came close to cancellation on a few occasions.

It was DMA's first game with a million-dollar budget and it was much bigger than anything the team had previously attempted, but when a group of high-ranking American executives from DMA's publisher, BMG Interactive, arrived, it almost killed the game. "They came to the studio, bizarrely wearing shorts, and they really didn't 'get' the game, with its outdated visuals, loads of bugs, and no clear genre," remembers Hamilton. "Fortunately, Dave Jones worked his magic and we were given a stay of execution."

Under the tree

GTA was released before Christmas and didn't appear that special on the face of it. It was brought to the table at a time when gamers were becoming used to playing in 3D and some reviewers reported drab, lifeless visuals and awkward driving dynamics. This, however, told only half a story. Here was an expansive, mould-breaking, free-form game with a compelling plot that also allowed for freedom and exploration. It had driving, shooting, chases and theft. It had all of the basic elements that have made the series so incredibly popular.

And while the missions lent purpose, the audio brought the city to life with its seven radio stations and police band track that boomed from car stereos and encouraged players to try different vehicles to see which tunes they got. There was a great sense that you were a criminal let loose on a metropolis, and you were not only up against other villains but the police too. It was a chance to run wild as the game car-jacked your mind and drove away with it.

A PlayStation version was essential, and it was created by Visual Science. Russell Kay had been the head PC programmer at DMA Design but left to form the new firm, which was located a short walk away. Visual Science worked with Psygnosis on several projects and so gained PlayStation experience, and when DMA realised that it couldn't deliver the PlayStation version in time, it called on Visual Science to assist.

The team consisted of four people, plus two programmers from DMA for a couple of months to help with some of the missions. They created a very rough port to the PlayStation devkit, which had much more memory than a retail machine. This allowed them to see it all working, albeit very slowly – less than a frame per second. "We then profiled the code to see where the slowdown was, and it was pretty much where we expected it to be: the rendering and the AI code," says Russell.

"Over the next few months we optimised those areas while refining the control scheme. We had to completely rewrite the front end for the system, as the control mechanism and Sony's Technical Requirements Checklist were so different. It took quite a while to get right. We spent around eight months on the conversion overall."

The biggest problem was taking the PC version, which used around 16MB of RAM, and squeezing it into 2MB on the PlayStation. "The other challenge was the audio," admits Russell. "The rich PC audio had to be squeezed into the minuscule RAM of the PlayStation. We used CD audio for the radio stations and made all of the other sound effects and police chatter as standard audio."

David Cowan was the lead engineer on the port. "I remember nothing on the PC version being documented very well. Most of the docs were very out of date, so the only references we had were the code and assets themselves," he says. "We didn't have access to the original assets either because they were spread all over the DMA network and no one knew how to bring them all together, so we ended up writing a tool that read in the finalised PC retail packages and converted them back to individual sprites, sounds, levels and so on so we could convert them."

Cowan remembers the code for the pedestrian system being horrendous, and he had to significantly modify it so that it wouldn't store the state of every pedestrian and car in the game. On the PlayStation, the state of each of these things was cached only for a short time and was randomly generated within 20 or 30 metres of the edge of the screen, which quartered the memory requirement. "Dead bodies disappeared after 30 seconds or so, and vehicles were randomly generated as you were driving or walking around. Skid marks on the PC version were also stored indefinitely but 'evaporated' on the PS1," says Cowan.

GTA went down a storm on release, and it caused an inevitable wave of controversy. Politicians began to debate the game and there were calls for it to be banned. There was talk of videogame censorship. But Baglow says the team didn't realise how contentious it would be.

"I think some of the team were a little shocked by the tabloid response, questions in Parliament and getting the game on Question Time," he says. "But once everyone realised that this was just the way the media works, they all settled down a bit and started to enjoy it. After all, we'd made a game that gamers, critics and the people actually playing the game all thought was pretty bloody good.The controversy and hysteria was nothing compared to the satisfaction of having made a game that I think everyone involved can be justifiably proud of."

Our best GTA games ranking runs down the series so far!

Well, well, well, if it isn't the consequences of our actions - GTA 6 is seemingly promising much bigger repercussions for our choices than the ones we saw in Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 5.

Your decisions in GTA 5 were largely not a big deal to anything other than your in-game wallet. The only choices with any kind of real consequence came from GTA 5's closing mission, which would significantly affect what ending you unlocked. Red Dead Redemption 2 went one step further with a full-on honor system that tracked all your moral or immoral moves, subtly changing cutscenes along the way and majorly shaking up the finale as a result, although the contours of RDR2's narrative remained the same no matter what.

After speaking to some of the senior developers behind the mammoth game, Dazed now reports that your choices in GTA 6 will cause much larger ripples across the game that go beyond any sort of honor system Rockstar Games has toyed with before.

Will GTA 6 ask us to make more decisions at pivotal moments, like that key choice during GTA 5's third act? Or will our small actions within its urban sandbox naturally seep into the narrative, à la Red Dead Redemption 2? How exactly this plays out is unclear, but co-studio head at Rockstar North, Rob Nelson, tells the outlet "the thing we love about this medium is the way these characters aren't empty avatars that you can do whatever you want with" and "their story becomes a journey you share with them."

Some of the seemingly thoughtless behaviors you'd exhibit in past Rockstar games are taken to the next level, too. In GTA 5, no one in the city would bat an eye if you were to walk down the street holding a machete (until you started swinging it, that is). Dazed says the city will definitely react if you were to stroll through GTA 6's streets with a rifle on hand. The game will also change Lucia and Jason's faces and bodies based on how much you eat, how much sleep you get, and more.

GTA 6 leaker turns to story spoilers: Cyberleek uploads 4-minute Lucia prologue clip hours after Rockstar says the leaks are "heartbreaking"

GTA 6 is bringing back a feature from San Andreas and other Rockstar games that is generally well-remembered despite being one of the worst parts about living as a human being in real-life: if you eat a lot and don't exercise, you'll get a big, old, round tummy, and people will expect you to giggle when they poke it.

OK, that last part isn't true, but it has been confirmed that your character in GTA 6 will have a body that changes based on your eating, exercise, and sleep habits. Revealed in an early deep-dive on GTA 6 published by Dazed, you'll get chubby if you eat too much, chiseled if you exercise enough, and visibly worn out if you go too long without sleeping.

If you've played earlier Rockstar games like GTA: San Andreas and Red Dead Redemption 2, you'll remember this sort of interactivity between your in-game avatar and your behavior, with Dazed pointing out Arthur Morgan's bruised and battered body after fights and long, grown-out beard following periods of uncivilized living. In short, GTA 6 doing the same thing isn't anything new, but it was unknown whether it would carry on with this unusual level of realism until now.

We're about to learn a lot more about the game with Netflix's GTA 6 gameplay reveal happening this Thursday despite the recent leaks. And speaking of which, Rockstar has finally issued its official public response to that whole situation, describing the leaks as "heartbreaking" and saying, "this is obviously not how we intended for you to see the game after all this time."

GTA 6 and Red Dead Redemption 2 are "the north stars of gaming," says Gamescom chief, but they won't last forever because "most gamers aren't only interested in a single game"

GTA 6's protracted development has seen Rockstar Games more than double in size since its last major release, Red Dead Redemption 2, according to a new report.

Dazed published an early look at an in-depth chat with several Rockstar leaders who examined the making of GTA 6. It notes that Rockstar's global network of offices now includes a Los Angeles, California branch "dedicated almost solely" to pedestrian NPCs in GTA 6.

Other specialist GTA 6 staff include professional drivers and street artists consulted for cars and murals, says Dazed.

"We look back at our previous games with a critical eye and see where we want to evolve based on what we didn't do as well as we would have liked to, either because we didn't have the time, resources or technological capabilities, or in some cases things we just didn't do as well or consider as fully as we could have," says Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson. "A lot of what we do is very iterative – we adjust a lot of things by feel based on what is working and what isn't."

Though GTA 5 and GTA Online are its big breadwinners, Red Dead Redemption 2, also a commercial monolith, is still widely regarded as Rockstar's most ambitious game. Even in 2018, it was a rare combination of scope and attention to detail – the kind of blood-from-stone production that only a company of this size could even attempt.

Thousands of developers have contributed to GTA 6 in some form, with its development budget, primarily consisting of wages paid, estimated to top $1 billion. The Rockstar LA example is illustrative: entire, sizable studios have fewer people than individual departments behind GTA 6.

Earlier today, Rockstar acknowledged the string of leaks that's preceded GTA 6's Netflix reveal trailer. "It has taken longer than we wanted to get it ready, but as with everything we do, we know we need to exceed your expectations, and we are determined to deliver at the level you expect and deserve," it wrote.

GTA 6 leaker turns to story spoilers: Cyberleek uploads 4-minute Lucia prologue clip hours after Rockstar says the leaks are "heartbreaking."

The latest GTA 6 leak is the biggest one yet. Leaker Cyberleek has shared a 4:38 clip of the prologue story for female protagonist Lucia, mere hours after developer Rockstar acknowledged the mounting leaks and called them "heartbreaking."

While this clip doesn't spoil the entire opening of GTA 6, it is the largest story spoiler released so far.

Cyberleek threatened to release Lucia's prologue earlier this week. In the same post, the person or group behind the leaks called on "at least 10 gamers" to "show up dressed as leeks" at the offices of Rockstar or owner Take-Two Interactive "holding game discs during working hours."

As ever, the leaker is also pushing a radioactive crypto coin, charging exorbitant fees to discuss ad space on the leaked footage, and steadily filling out an entire chapter on how to get sued into ash. It could not be more obvious that the leaker seeks to extract maximum personal gain from this mess.

An even more incendiary message covers this Lucia leak (punctuation added for legibility). "This build is actually recent and the game is not ready at all," Cyberleek writes. The limited, fragmented nature of the GTA 6 clips released thus far has led many to believe that the game build in Cyberleek's possession is outdated and incomplete.

"Sony and Rockstar are killing your right to own and resell your games," it continues, echoing the unhinged "commandments" on the Cyberleek website and taking aim at Sony's unpopular move to end PlayStation disc production in January 2028. GTA 6 is a digital-only release, with physical editions limited to codes in boxes.

"And Rockstar is killing their own employees too," the message adds, "the work required to reach gold is way too much for so little time left. Trading volume price is how CL measures your support. CL will not continue without support. You decide."

Rockstar's documented, occasionally debated history of crunch during development is doing it no favors here, but it goes without saying that you shouldn't trust the claims of a person or group openly peddling a meme coin.

Cyberleek has a vested interest not only in appearing legitimate but in piggybacking on GTA 6 anticipation like a barnacle. Increasingly aggressive crypto pushes like this will only fuel the theory that Cyberleek's window is closing as Take-Two ramps up its investigation into the leaker's identity and, per Kotaku, online vigilantes also pursue their identity.

Reports indicate Cyberleek's actions haven't affected Rockstar's road to launch, nor has the August 27 Netflix trailer reveal been derailed.

In its statement addressing the leaks, Rockstar writes: "While it is unfortunate that the intended game experience may now be impacted by some spoilers, we hope that everyone will wait a bit longer to experience the game for themselves on November 19."

New GTA 6 leak shows physical media is alive and well in Vice City, including one game that pokes fun at The Last of Us and Naughty Dog's many remasters.

On the eve of Netflix's big GTA 6 preview, another leak has sprung up of Rockstar's blockbuster sandbox. This one, the 15th in total, focuses on a bit of namesake automobile theft, followed by a good old-fashioned police chase, demonstrating the mechanics at play.

The clip opens with the player character robbing a car by smashing the window and dragging the driver out - a series staple made even more visceral this time around - and then driving off in the vehicle. It's nighttime in a quiet part of town, and the person in control drives erratically through the city streets, causing impromptu traffic jams and near-accidents.

Then, after speeding through an intersection, the police get involved, causing a high-speed pursuit. Things get messier from there on: fences are broken down, cars grind against each other, all the hallmarks of some Grand Theft Auto tomfoolery.

Then, in a post-credits scene worthy of the MCU, Lucia pops up right at the end in a little cinematic. She calls out someone for being a terrible driver - probably whoever you're playing as in that section.

As with previous clips, Cyberleek is taking responsibility, putting watermarks all over the minute-and-a-half of gameplay. This anomalous group has proven to be a thorn in Rockstar's side, who recently responded to the ongoing leaks.

"It has taken longer than we wanted to get it ready, but as with everything we do, we know we need to exceed your expectations, and we are determined to deliver at the level you expect and deserve," the statement reads. "While it is unfortunate that the intended game experience may now be impacted by some spoilers, we hope that everyone will wait a bit longer to experience the game for themselves on November 19."

Legal action is underway, as Rockstar's approached Discord with a court order over the leaked materials. There's no formal movement on that front yet, but if the leaks continue, you can expect ramifications to increase.

New GTA 6 leak shows physical media is alive and well in Vice City, including one game that pokes fun at The Last of Us and Naughty Dog's many remasters

While it may seem wild in retrospect to think there ever was a time where GTA wasn't massive, former Rockstar Games dev Obbe Vermeij says the third game wasn't expected to be huge.

It's hard to think of many games that on their own completely changed the industry, but GTA 3 is easily one of the biggest. The first 3D entry in the crime series defined what an open-world game could be, and alongside the likes of Metal Gear Solid 2 was one of the first PS2 games that felt truly "next-gen."

In a post on Twitter, Vermeij posted a photo of Lance Williams, Adam Davidson and Jeremy Pope from Rockstar Games New York at E3 2001 while the Rockstar North (then DMA Design) devs "were back in Scotland fixing bugs." E3 2001 was mere months before the release of GTA 3 that October. Vermeij recalls, "Its success was far from certain," calling Rockstar "the underdogs back then."

He explains that GTA 2 had been seen as a disappointment compared to the original game in terms of sales, and that at E3 "GTA 3 didn’t get much attention at the show." He recalls "people were more interested" in the other Rockstar game being shown at the event, State of Emergency, which would release to mixed reviews the following year. He also explains that many of the people who did end up playing GTA 3 at E3 2001, "thought it was too violent."

However, from digging up old previews of the game, GTA 3 E3 2001 previews seemed generally positive, Jeff Gerstmann's GameSpot preview called it "one of our favorite games here at the show," saying of the violence "There’s just something totally wrong–and absolutely hilarious–about beating an old woman with a baseball bat only to have her get up and start throwing punches at you." Meanwhile IGN's Douglass C. Perry said "If you take away all of the incredible level of hip marketing and hype behind the game, Grand Theft Auto III is still a genuine knockout in every category, full stop."

I'm sure no one could've predicted just how huge GTA 3 would be, and in-turn, how much the rest of the franchise would become the biggest thing in games, but there was definitely some eagerness back then from the looks of things, at least from the press side.

Rockstar officially responds to GTA 6 leaks: "This is obviously not how we intended for you to see the game after all this time"

Rockstar Games has released a statement acknowledging the litany of GTA 6 leaks that have flooded the internet over the last week.

While the game was set to get its gameplay reveal via the GTA 6 extended look on Netflix later this week, GTA 6 leaks have been all over the place, with looks at the full Leonidas map, nude parties, strip clubs… A lot of nude people. While Take-Two has sent subpoenas to Microsoft and Discord to identify the people responsible for the leaks, Rockstar itself hasn't spoken about the footage until now.

In a post on Twitter, Rockstar finally talks about the situation, acknowledging, "We know that many of you have been waiting to hear from us regarding the events of the past week."

Rockstar calls the leaks "heartbreaking for our team," and adds, "this is obviously not how we intended for you to see the game after all this time."

The statement also touches on the extremely long development time and droughts between information about the game, saying, "We are very sorry that everything has taken as long as it has."

Rockstar adds it's "very excited for everyone to see the extended look tomorrow," sharing that "as with everything we do, we know we need to exceed your expectations, and we are determined to deliver at the level you expect and deserve."

The statement then says that "while it is unfortunate that the intended game experience may now be impacted by some spoilers," the devs "hope that everyone will wait a bit longer to experience the game for themselves on November 19."

The statement concludes: "We want to thank everyone in the community who has reached out with messages of support this past week - your words have meant more to this team than you can imagine. Ultimately, we are making this game for you, and without you, we would not have the privilege of making games."

The Netflix showcase tomorrow will be the first non-leaked gameplay footage to emerge, so it'll be interesting to finally see the game in action, especially when the leaked build is reportedly years old.

Former Rockstar Games lead says GTA 6 leaks are a "nothing burger" because "90% of future players" aren't searching for the clips online

The drip of GTA 6 leaks from anonymous group Cyberleek has turned into a flooding riverbed. The rush of information isn't slowing, and Cyberleek seems intent on never stopping, despite Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two, trying its best to unmask the leaker group's members. Meanwhile, a new gameplay clip from Cyberleek suggests that GTA 6 features a The Last of Us reference.

In Cyberleek's most recent clip, which was uploaded to Twitter and beyond but went down shortly after due to a copyright strike, Jason checks out a store named Game Horde while Cyberleek watermarks the screen with a message about its antagonistic leaks: "THIS IS NOT ABOUT ACTUAL DISCS. IT IS ABOUT OWNERSHIP."

If you say so. On that note, Jason seems to have approached the Game Horde building intending to expand his physical game ownership, but then he doesn't.

Instead, Jason uses binoculars like a creep to observe every detail in Game Horde's streaky windows, including the several video game parodies Rockstar snuck in for the most observant among us.

Then, around the 0:22 mark, we can see an advertisement for the fictional JS8, which impresses me with how far it's past our culture's current PS5 generation. Perhaps thinking the same thing, Jason once again pulls out his handy binoculars to better observe several titles on the store shelf, which is now right in front of his face.

The spines stuffing the shelves reveal a choice selection of games like Dark Souls parody GLORY SOULS II, Desolate Rim, whose font looks a lot like FPS Titanfall, and We Came Together I, II & III Remasters of the Remakes – a spoof on The Last of Us franchise's seemingly incurable need to renew and represent itself in front of a fresh audience.

This implied criticism is being thrown from a glass house, however, since Rockstar isn't usually ever willing to abandon its most profitable game series, either. Otherwise, it wouldn't spend a decade building anticipation for GTA 6.

Ultimately, Jason decides he doesn't want to buy that physical copy of Righteous Slaughter: Spree-For-All. He instead tries on some purple headphones before stalking off into the approaching night, where infinitely more detail – and, I'm sure, more fodder for leaks – await us.

Discord will "evaluate the validity and scope before responding" to controversial GTA 6 leaks court order, but the platform "has not yet been served."

The huge GTA 6 leaks continue to drip onto the internet, with our latest look at the Rockstar Games behemoth taking us to the beach. Not so surprisingly, fans are pretty impressed that the studio managed to keep the bustling crowds shown in GTA 6's very first trailer.

The hacker known as Cyberleek has been slowly but surely leaking small clips from the upcoming game almost every day over the past two weeks. Everything from the full Leonidas map to the game's new strip clubs and nude parties has been made available to the public, despite rights holder Take-Two taking steps to find whoever's responsible.

Today marks the 13th GTA 6 clip of this month, this time with a trip to Vice City's sandy shores. Jason can be seen biking along the beach and leaving a long trail in the sand, all while dozens of beachgoers idly chit-chat, swim, and lounge about at sunset. A bird (that looks like a seagull) also flies straight into Jason's wheels, for some reason.

But what GTA 6 fans can't stop talking about is how full the beaches' crowds look. "Oh my f*****g god they managed to keep the crowd density, I was for sure expecting that to be cut down closer to launch for the sake of optimization," one Redditor writes.

"Seems like it's during unset, probably going to be even more NPC in daytime," says another. "The worst thing about these leaks is it has made the wait for the game more unbearable," writes another.

And the sentiment is echoed pretty much ad nauseam. "Crowd density deniers in shambles."

Still, I'd recommend being a little more cautious since it's not entirely clear how up-to-date Cyberleek's GTA 6 build is. Songs used in some of the leaked clips suggest the hacker has access to a build from after January 2025 - it's entirely possible the final game will look quite different by the time it officially launches on November 19, for better or worse.

Former Rockstar Games lead says GTA 6 leaks are a "nothing burger" because "90% of future players" aren't searching for the clips online